Kismet
by RedShadowThief
Summary: The final installment in my Haunted/Fragments trilogy. Stunning conclusion to the love story between Ryou and Reiko and, most importantly, Ryou's road to adulthood and finding himself. Ryou B. x OC/Seto K. x OC
1. Chapter 1

_Baby mine, don't you cry._

_Baby mine, dry your eyes._

_Rest your head close to my heart,_

_never to part, baby of mine._

_Little one, when you play,_

_pay no heed what they say._

_Let your eyes sparkle and shine,_

_never a tear, baby of mine._

_If they knew all about you,_

_they'd end up loving you, too._

_All those same people who scold you,_

_what they'd give just for the right to hold you._

_From your hair down to your toes,_

_you're not much, goodness knows._

_But, you're so precious to me,_

_sweet as can be, baby of mine._

Bette Midler - Baby Mine

* * *

Life with Seto Kaiba was easy. Reiko didn't have to talk much in the morning, or at dinner. The silences weren't awkward. They were just silent. She had free reign for the most part and, when the company that she had been working for after graduating from college had downsized and she'd been out of a job, Seto offered her a position at KC.

She attended press conferences and galas, and went to bed before he got home. Sometimes, he would wake her up. He would be in the mood and she had no, reason to say no and they'd fuck each other senseless. When they had first met and become physical with one another, Reiko was worried that it was all happening too fast and that they would spin out of control. She worried that she was just a fling.

As it turned out, she was a little bit more than that.

Kaiba had thought that she was the perfect candidate for a wife. She was mild mannered. She was intelligent but wasn't overly outspoken. She knew how to keep a conversation going and she knew how to use all of the appliances in his kitchen. She made wonderful late night snacks and she _herself_ was a wonderful late night treat.

For the longest time, Reiko split her time between her dorm room and Seto's mansion. When she graduated, she didn't ask him to let her move in. Instead, she kept working and lived with her parents in her childhood room. That had been a strange time, but she didn't have much spare cash and she was still paying for her old apartment (without anyone knowing). Her job at a PR firm was enough to pay for her school loans and rent with a bit left over to buy herself necessities that she didn't want to make her parents provide for her. Sometimes, she thought about how she had always believed that this was a struggle that she would have shared with _him_.

Seto had proposed abruptly. Reiko had completed her first month of work at Kaiba Corp. and Seto was very impressed at how she was handling the work that she had been given. He acted on a moment of pride and calculated assurance that Reiko Fujiyama was the best possible choice for himself, for his corporation, and ultimately, for whatever would come in the future. The ring was beautiful. It meant commitment. It meant that he wasn't going to run away. She said yes.

A mere four months later, when Reiko found out about her pregnancy, she had gone into a blind panic. What if he didn't want the baby? What if she had to go through it all again? What if this was punishment for what she had done before? At that thought, her hand had flown down to her flat stomach and she had cradled herself. Not this time.

When she told Seto about the baby it was very casual, over a typically quiet dinner at a trendy, but exclusive, restaurant a few blocks from KC. He looked at her with the same analytical gaze that she had known for the past eight years. It had been eight years. He smiled then, something that rarely happened (the last time that she could remember him directing such a genuine smile at her was after she had signed their prenuptial agreement at their civil service "wedding").

He'd leaned across the table and brushed the bangs out of her eyes and, like it had been written in a script, told her that it was wonderful news.

For some reason, that hadn't satisfied Reiko the way that she thought it would. He continued eating his sushi and she continued eating her udon noodles, and a few minutes later, he took a phone call and rushed off to the office, promising that he'd send the car back to pick her up.

It was nights like this one, when Seto was busy working on some new product in order to get it out in time for the winter holidays, when she would get into a broody mood and pace the nursery that she had put so much time and planning into. The twenty-seven-year-old gingerly rested a hand over her swollen belly. She couldn't wait to meet the little creature that had been growing inside of her for so long; his due date was in two weeks. It was all happening so slowly and so quickly at the same time.

Kazuhiro Seto Kaiba. The name was emblazoned on his navy blue blankets and on the ultrasound pictures that Reiko had insisted on framing and putting up in his nursery. She hugged herself tighter; she always felt warm when she thought about the baby. Kazuhiro was already the apple of his mother's eye and he hadn't even taken his first breath yet. Reiko longed to have someone of her own, someone to bestow her love upon and have the love returned in earnest.

Her mother had been so happy when she found out that Reiko was pregnant. She had broken the news to her parents and to Mokuba (the only family that she and Seto had) over a catered dinner at the mansion. Her mother was just happy that Reiko had married someone other than that white-haired kid who had stolen their daughter away from them and filled her head with happy thoughts, just to disappear one day and leave her broken.

Mrs. Fujiyama had been very pleased to see her daughter recover so quickly and move up the social ladder by seeing Seto Kaiba. He was a stable person with a job and a future and who seemed to care deeply for their daughter.

Lots of things seemed and appeared to be.

Mokuba had choked on his bite of food but had ultimately maintained a look of absolute glee on his face. He had hugged Reiko tightly and joked that she had better grab another plate because she was eating for two – maybe even three. Seto had blanched a bit at the comment, but Reiko soaked it up. She would finally be able to experience motherhood.

She heard footsteps – the person was dragging their feet – and then she heard laughter. It was high pitched and obviously from someone who was highly intoxicated. She sat down in a rocking chair and put her feet up. She rocked back and forth and pretended that it was Mokuba and his girlfriend who had just walked down the hall.

At some point, she dozed off and didn't notice when the sun set and rose again. She didn't notice that Seto left without coming in to check on her once or have her go to bed instead of sitting up in a rocking chair all night. When she woke up, she didn't really have time to dwell on it either because she was startled out of her slumber by a severe cramp-like pain. A contraction, but it was nothing new. She'd been having them on and off for the past few days, something that her doctor had told her was completely normal.

This one had caught her off guard and that was why she was so winded. She got up and stretched, heading into her room to take a shower. And then she felt it – the mucus-like moisture in her panties. Reiko had been reading books and consulting websites and asking her doctors all the questions that she could think up. She had researched and learned and taken quizzes online and in magazines, but in that moment she was completely stunned motionless.

Another strong contraction took her breath away and she held her stomach as she braced herself in the doorway of her bedroom. She managed to catch her breath as she made her way over to the desk where the telephone was; she needed to call someone. Her mind was reeling. She dialed without thinking, grateful when the person on the other line was her mother and not someone else.

"Hello?"

"Mom, I'm having contractions and I think," she paused to take a deep breath as another contraction pierced her. "I think it's time."

Mrs. Fujiyama gasped in excitement. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Get to the hospital, I'll call them for you and I – I'll be there right away, just let me get out of my pajamas. Oh my goodness …!"

Reiko smiled for a moment, her mother's reaction was to be expected; her only daughter was having her first child. Her only daughter was pregnant for the first time. The baby stirred and snapped Reiko out of her bitter thoughts. She pressed back gently. "Okay, okay, no bitter thoughts today, I promise."

She called her driver and told him to have a car ready for her in five minutes. She called the head maid and had her take her hospital bag down to the car. She pulled on a pair of clean underwear and some stretchy pants and a baggy sweatshirt. No glamour for her on this day.

She managed to start her breathing patterns and call Seto and Mokuba while she was being driven. Well, she was able to speak to Seto's secretary because her husband was in the middle of intense negotiations and he had asked not to be disturbed. Reiko soured at the thought that her husband hadn't even allowed an exception for his pregnant wife. Mokuba – who was in a meeting of his own – answered her call and promised to get to Seto.

Once she arrived at the hospital, everything began to blur together. There was paperwork she needed to sign, there were waivers about hospital liability. There were needles being pushed into her arm and her clothes had been taken away. By the time her mother arrived (her parents had moved out of the city about forty minutes away), she was sitting in a hospital bed with all sorts of machines attached to her and a nurse asking her if she would like an epidural.

Mrs. Fujiyama arrived right on time, convincing Reiko that she really wanted the epidural and whipping the nurses into shape, demanding that they bring her daughter some frozen sponges to suck on (she wasn't allowed to drink water) and that they bring her some more blankets because it was freezing.

There was a little bit of an ache in her heart. This was supposed to be her overly concerned husband yelling at nurses and reading over the paperwork. He was supposed to be there holding her hand and telling her she was so brave and that everything was going to go so well. Instead, she had a text message from Mokuba saying that Seto wouldn't be able to make it for at least another hour. She wanted to complain, but instead, she looked over at her mother and said, "I can't believe he's going to be here today."

The contractions seemed to be getting closer and closer together and time seemed to creep by ever so slowly. Reiko began to feel fatigued, but she was determined. Her mother was in and out of the room because she was calling her cousins who lived in different cities all across Japan. Her father had come in for a little while, but once the nurses started coming in to check how dilated she was, he had excused himself to the waiting room.

Reiko sat alone, watching reruns of old TV shows. It was almost four hours later when the doctor came in and told her that they were moving her into the birthing room. An intense fear crept into her and she pressed the button to give herself another dose of pain medication. Her mother rushed beside her, putting on her scrubs and face mask.

It only took thirty minutes of pushing. Thirty tiny minutes and then her baby was born. He screamed and cried as the doctor handed him over to the nurse and he only settled down when the nurse handed him over to Reiko. As soon as they placed him on her chest, he rested his tiny little head on her breast, right above her heart. She didn't realize she was crying until her mother wiped the tears away with the scratchy sleeve of the scrubs they provided the family members who were present in the birthing room.

After she had been cleaned up, they moved her back into her room. She asked incessantly for them to bring her the baby; she wanted him to be in the same room as her. Mokuba arrived about an hour after little Kazuhiro had been born. Reiko had filled out his birth certificate; the only thing missing on the form was the little boy's father's signature.

Mokuba was able to pull some strings and have Kazuhiro brought into Reiko's hospital room; his little plastic cradle was wheeled in and placed beside Reiko's bed.

"He's really cute, Rei," Mokuba said as he brushed the little boy's cheek.

She beamed up at her brother-in-law and extended her arms in a silent gesture to ask for her son.

Mrs. Fujiyama noticed the sheer panic on Mokuba's face at the thought of holding the little bundle in his own hands and she stepped up to pick up her grandson while teasing Mokuba good-naturedly.

* * *

When Seto arrived, the grandparents had already gone home for the night and Mokuba had left to find the cafeteria because he had skipped lunch to come see Reiko.

Reiko was holding the baby in her arms as she leaned back on the pillows. Her eyes were closed and she was humming some song that was vaguely familiar. He set down his briefcase and peered down at the child swaddled in the navy blue blanket that Reiko had picked out for him almost six months ago. The newborn woke up at that moment, his little eyes opening up to stare blindly at his father's face with pretty brown eyes. There was a pang of disappointment that his son hadn't inherited his eye color, but from what the pudgy little face looked like at the moment Seto assumed that the little boy would take after him in everything else.

"Do you want to hold him?"

Seto started at the unexpected question. He hadn't noticed when she had stopped humming and opened her eyes. "Uh, sure."

She smiled at him warmly and instructed him on how to cradle the baby's head. The child was asleep again, resting easily in his father's arms. Seto felt warmth in his heart and he leaned down and kissed Reiko's lips. The little family of three shared one of very few happy moments.

* * *

"And then gramma made coo-keys, they had chaw-kow-wet."

Reiko raised a brow at the little boy seated next to her. She had decided to have a driver bring her out to pick up Kazuhiro from her parent's house because the roads were particularly icy and she didn't want to risk it. She wiped some chocolate from his cheek and he squirmed. "Maw-me!"

"Kazuhiro, what have I told you about whining?"

"Uh, um … it's bad?"

She cracked a smile and his expression transformed from sheepish to silly. "How many cookies did you eat anyway?"

The question put him into deep thought. "I had," he paused to try and count the amount on his fingers like Uncle Mokuba had been teaching him. "I had this many."

Reiko kissed the two chubby little fingers that he held up and he giggled. "You little liar, grandpa said that you had this many," she held up a full hand of fingers and Kazuhiro blushed.

"May-bee," he admitted, suddenly looking serious and a terrible lot like his father.

"It's okay, because I had _this many_," she held up six fingers and her son squealed with childish delight.

Once they arrived at the mansion, Kazuhiro toddled his way to his father's study and hurried to his father's side. "Daddy, daddy!"

Reiko peered in from the hall and watched as Seto put down his highlighter and picked up the little boy, indulging him with his attention. She felt a pang of jealousy that her son had run to his father, but she was satisfied with knowing that she would be the one to tuck him in that night and every night for the rest of his childhood.

* * *

**Okay, here we go, people. You can thank ****_CraftyLion_**** for getting this published today ;) She asked why I was torturing her ... and I am going to use this a leverage to get an update outta her :p**

**I hope that you like this. Things are happening. Wheels are being set in motion and all that. Reviews are LOVE.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Afterward, the compromise._

_Bodies resume their boundaries._

_These legs, for instance, mine._

_Your arms take you back in._

_Spoons of our fingers, lips_

_admit their ownership._

_The bedding yawns, a door_

_blows aimlessly ajar_

_and overhead, a plane_

_singsongs coming down._

_Nothing is changed, except_

_there was a moment when_

_the wolf, the mongering wolf_

_who stands outside the self_

_lay lightly down, and slept._

_After Love_

_By Maxine W. Kumin_

* * *

It wasn't the words on the papers that made her blood boil. It wasn't even the fact that the papers had been thrown on her desk while she had been out at lunch with little Kazuhiro. It was the fact that he didn't have the decency to give her the papers himself.

It was the fact that after almost six years of marriage, he was not man enough to come tell her face to face that he wanted a divorce.

In all truth, it was a long time coming. What they had, had never been love. They had common interests. They had the ability to tolerate one another. They had the human desire to be held in the dark of night. When Kazuhiro was born, he gained an heir and she gained someone who she could finally bestow the full force of her love upon. Kazuhiro had been exactly what his parents had needed.

But once they had him, they realized several things that they had been pretending not to miss from their relationship.

When Kazuhiro had asked for a little brother or sister, his father walked out of the room. His mother had looked at him with tears in her eyes and gone to sign him up for a playgroup in the hopes that having friends would diminish his desire for siblings.

When Kazuhiro said goodnight to his parents, he asked why they didn't hold hands like his friends' mommies and daddies did.

When Kazuhiro did well in school, he asked why mommy and daddy arrived to the award ceremonies separately.

Their son's innocent remarks were daggers in Reiko's heart. She wanted so badly to make his life everything that it should have been. She went as far as going off of her birth control and trying to seduce Seto into having his way with her. She tried to wait for Seto to come home before putting Kazuhiro to bed. Or before taking him to the movies, or the zoo, or to playgroup, or any other place where parents would usually travel together.

When Kazuhiro saw his parents, he did not see any love between them. For being so young, he was very perceptive.

Little Kazuhiro was almost five years old now. Reiko was on the eve of her thirty-second birthday. So much time had passed and yet so little had changed. Reiko dialed a familiar phone number, trying to keep her anger under wraps until she was face to face with Seto.

"Mokuba here." She sighed as Mokuba picked up promptly – a habit that he'd learned from watching Seto for years.

"Hey Mokuba, uh …" Reiko suddenly felt awkward. She had just received news of her husband filing for divorce and the first person that she had called had been her brother-in-law. Not her mother, not her father, not any of the few friends that she had left.

She put her head in her hands and put the phone on speaker. The full force of what was happening crashed over her like a cold, cold wave.

"Oh God, he went through with it, didn't he?"

Reiko looked up at the phone; she gawked as though Mokuba was sitting right in front of her.

"Fuck Reiko, I'm so sorry. He, well he thinks that Kazuhiro – "

She let out a snarl and Mokuba stopped talking. "He doesn't know what's best for Kazuhiro. He has no idea that all the little boy wants is to see his mother and father _together_. "

Mokuba was quiet for a moment, but when he finally spoke up, Reiko wished he hadn't. "But Rei, Kazuhiro knows that you and Seto have problems."

It was then that a sob finally broke through and she felt like she was choking. Fuck. He was going to ruin her life. Fuck. She was going to lose her baby boy; there was no way Kaiba was going to let go of his heir.

When she finally regained control of her voice, she told Mokuba what she had intended to tell him from the start. "Please pick up Kazuhiro from his playgroup. He gets out in an hour and I told him that I would take him to the movies tonight, but …"

"No worries Reiko, I've got it covered. I'll make sure that he doesn't hear or see anything. Seto is being really careful about all this." He paused for a long moment before adding, "He really thinks he's doing the right thing."

She ended the call without saying goodbye. Mokuba had always been so proud of his brother, of course he couldn't see the selfish reasons behind the divorce. Reiko didn't want to be the one to break it to him, but she knew that he'd find out soon enough.

Seto's affairs were never very secret. They started almost immediately after he found out that she was pregnant. Up until now, they hadn't really been a problem for her. Seto was classy and he knew how to keep his paramours under the table and out of the eye of the paparazzi. It did help that Reiko was a main consultant for all of the Kaiba Brand PR and was able to filter out the messages being sent to the media.

She saw his slip-ups though. These had started recently. She was sure that this latest woman was the reason for her divorce. Seto was being careless now. He didn't change his shirts before coming home from the "office." He didn't brush his teeth after his escapades with that vile woman. She had found a pair of lacy underwear in the limo when she and Kazuhiro were being driven to the airport to go visit her parents. She noticed that the money in their joint accounts was being spent on frivolous things in negligee shops and expensive dinners all around Japan, cars, clothes, makeup and jewelry, the overpriced penthouse in downtown Domino – all the pretty things that men bought women when they were in love and wanted the world to know.

She noticed, but she put a smile on her face and went to bed next to him every night and woke up next to him every morning. She put up the front for Kazuhiro. The little boy idolized his father. He adored his mother. She didn't want him to lose that beautiful image all because she was distraught and unhappy.

In all truth, deep down inside, Reiko wasn't angry at Seto for finding true love. She was _jealous_. The jealousy spilled over from her heart and her mind. It invaded her organs. It permeated every part of her life. She was jealous that after this failed marriage – if it could even be called that – he would still be able to have his happy ending. Her own happy ending had run away so long ago.

Reiko wiped away her tears. She didn't want Seto thinking that she was crying about him or about the fortune that she would lose when she no longer lived in his mansion and shared his bank account and name. She was crying because she was going to lose Kazuhiro. Without Kaiba paying the bills, she had nothing to offer him. She had no doubt that she could find a great job – especially with her expansive resume – but she would never come close to the amount of wealth that Seto had inherited and built up.

She called her driver and informed him that she needed to be picked up from the satellite office she worked at inside of KaibaLand and driven to Seto's office at the main KC building.

Her black Christian Louboutin pumps clicked on the polished floors of the KC lobby. Her gait was quick and determined and the stupid girl behind the main desk of the lobby was frantically whispering into the phone at the front desk, "Mrs. Kaiba is here."

And then she swiped her badge and the elevator doors closed. It was just her and the crappy music that some idiot had chosen and the thick manila envelope that contained her divorce papers and a copy of her pre-nuptial agreement.

She made it out of the elevator doors and past the executive boardrooms and Kazuhiro's improvised playroom and into the lobby-type waiting room that preceded Seto's office. The secretary that guarded his double doors was fumbling with her words – she must have noticed Reiko's uncharacteristically serious expression.

"I'll just let Mr. Kaiba know that you're here …"

Reiko pulled off her black Prada sunglasses and looked her in the eye, "It's alright, I'll let myself in."

The woman balked, her eyes going from the door to the office and Reiko. She stepped forward and around the desk, her footfalls muffled by the plush carpet and scanned her badge at the doors and heard the satisfactory sound of the door automatically unlocking.

Reiko had prepared herself for a variety of scenarios. She expected to find him with his lover, no doubt. What she couldn't decide was what exactly would be going on between them. Would they be going at it? Would they be expecting her? Or would they be doing something completely normal and boring and couple-like, like watching TV or just talking?

One swing of the door and she realized that all of her assumptions were wrong. Her soon-to-be-ex husband was sitting behind his desk. He wasn't furiously typing into his laptop or messing with new technology or sorting through proposals or financial reports. He was sitting with his hands folded, staring directly at the double doors.

He was waiting for her.

"Mokuba called me."

She smiled at his statement, at the loyalty between brothers. Of course Mokuba had called.

"Well then, you know what I'm here about then." She had finally made it to his desk and had taken the seat directly in front of him. She noticed that her hands were trembling, but she tried to cover it up by folding them neatly in front of her.

"Yes, and I want you to know that I'm willing to completely honor the prenup –" he stopped when Reiko lifted her gaze to meet his and he saw the look in her eyes. They might not have been in love, but they had spent a significant amount of time together and he could see that she was distraught. It caught him off guard and his neatly prepared little speech crumbled.

His instinct was to get up and put a hand on her shoulder, lean over the desk and brush the hair back behind her small ears. Instead, he narrowed his eyes. This was his place of business and, unfortunately, this was a matter of business now. He tried to continue his speech, his resolve slowly coming back and then dissolving anew when he heard Reiko sob.

Reiko had her face in her hands; her shoulders were trembling with the force of the sorrow inside of her. Seto cleared his throat and she wiped her eyes with a tissue from his desk, meeting his azure gaze with her glassy brown one.

"Look, Seto, I know that there was never any real love between us." She paused to regain some more of her composure. "But I _love _Kazuhiro with all my heart."

He squared his shoulders at her comment; he wasn't going to let her take his son.

"I'm not going to ask for full custody of him," she whispered. "All I want is to be able to see him whenever I want. I want to be the _only_ person you consult when making decisions that will affect how he is being raised and how he will grow up."

Seto's neck tightened. It was a small detail, something that most people never picked up on, but Reiko had. It meant that he was not happy, but that he was holding it back – he was willing to hear her out.

She leaned forward in her seat, momentarily encouraged, "I want him to live with you because I can never offer him what you can, I can never give him the opportunities that you can. But I am still his mother and I want to be in his life." She locked eyes with him. "I don't want another woman raising my son."

For the second time during the meeting Seto was taken aback, but this time he was unable to mask it before she noticed. "How …?"

She smiled wryly. "Oh Seto, you're my _husband_. I've spent so much time with you, I know."

He frowned for a moment. "Fine. So you know that there is someone else. That's not to say that you've been fully committed to our relationship. From the start your heart has belonged to someone else."

It was Reiko's turn to gape at him. He had noticed that she was unhappy. It was a strange concept to have her unhappiness, her immortal loneliness thrust out into verbal conversation. She'd been holding it in for so long.

"That doesn't mean I didn't try my best, Seto."

He nodded at her before pulling a document from his desk drawer.

"Alright, here is the prenuptial agreement. You said you don't care about it, but I am still legally bound to honor this unless you sign here to state otherwise." He paused to observe the emotions flying across her face. "Even if you do sign this, there are some things that I want you to have regardless of the contract that we signed."

Reiko looked up at him, stunned that _Seto Kaiba_ was offering her any of his limited generosity.

"I have a list here, separate from the original document. I want you to keep the car that I bought you when Kazuhiro was born; you'll need a safe way to transport him when you do have him. I want you to keep the apartment that you've been paying rent on for all these years, and if it is necessary, I am willing to pay the rent for the apartment until you find a well-paying job. You will be keeping keys to the mansion and the closed-circuit cell phone that I got you so that you can stay in contact with Kazuhiro. Obviously, you'll need to notify me before coming into the mansion, unless it is an emergency."

He looked up at her, the piercing blue eyes that belonged only to him looking deep into her. She nodded and opened her mouth to speak. "I am willing to agree to this, as long as you are willing to agree to some of my own requests."

He repressed a scowl and nodded. "Name them."

"I want to meet her. I want to be there when Kazuhiro meets her. And, most importantly, I want _you_ to explain to him about the divorce before this all gets out of hand."

Seto frowned at her last request and gritted his teeth. "Done."

* * *

**I just want to apologize for taking so long to get this out - I'm completely swamped with end-of-the-year papers. As soon the next couple of weeks go by I'll be able to get back to more regular updates :) Promise!**

**I dedicate this to ****_CraftyLion_**** for being so sweet and reviewing :)**

**Enjoy and review please - I will love you. Forever. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_And now I'm told that this is life_

_That pain is just a simple compromise_

_So we can get what we want out of it_

_Would someone care to classify?_

_Our broken hearts and twisted minds_

_So I can find someone to rely on_

_And run to them, to them_

_Full speed ahead_

_Oh, you are not useless_

_We are just_

Paramore – Misguided Ghosts

* * *

Reiko woke up in bed beside a bouncing little boy. Kazuhiro had been tucked in by his uncle the night before and Reiko had felt terrible that she had broken her routine of brushing his teeth, putting on his pj's and reading him his favorite story (_The Lorax_). She also didn't have a bed to sleep in anymore.

Her eyes felt puffy and sore as Kazuhiro poked at her face, trying to wake her up. She opened her eyes when she felt him lick her cheek.

She shot him a very un-motherly look, to which he replied by barking and yapping. "I'm a puppy mommy!"

He was looking at her with her own brown eyes and her own crooked smile and she couldn't resist him. He was everything to her. "Well, good morning there puppy, but I think that puppies belong outside. This is my son's bed."

"Moooom."

"Yes?"

"Why are you sleeping in here anyways?"

She grimaced. "Because I missed your bed time, silly."

"What about daddy?"

Reiko grabbed her son and pulled up his shirt to tickle his belly. "Why are you asking so many questions today? Hm?"

The almost five year-old giggled and squirmed. "I don't know, just am."

"Come on, let's get you dressed. Did Mokuba help you with your bath last night?"

"Uh-huh, but he's really bad at it. He got his shirt all wet and there was soap on his hair, it was funny."

She picked out an outfit for him and helped him brush his teeth. He insisted on buttoning his own shirt and pulling on his own socks. Reiko sat next to him, patiently waiting for him to finish and observing him with longing eyes. She was going to miss these mornings. It was all she had known since he was born. For the past five years, she'd been a hands-on mother. He had a determined expression on his little face. He looked just like Seto, right down to the haircut and the lanky build.

He skipped down the hall behind her as she tentatively opened the door to her bedroom. At this time, Seto was usually at work and the room was free for her to use. Today, it was occupied by two maids who were folding her clothes into a variety of boxes. She stopped in the doorway and turned to her son. "Hey Kaz, would you mind going downstairs and getting your crayons out? I think we should do some drawing today."

The little boy nodded and scurried off before Reiko allowed herself to enter her bedroom. The maids looked up, but otherwise didn't say anything as she picked up some clean underwear and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. She had managed to find some jeans and a t-shirt still in her closet and tugged the clothes on. She quickly applied some makeup and hurried downstairs to find her son.

She walked down the steps two at a time, she passed Seto's study on her way to the play room. That was when she heard what she had feared.

"Oh Seto, he's absolutely adorable." The woman paused to laugh at something. "So much cuter in person than in the pictures I've seen. And he looks so much like you."

Reiko threw the door to the study the rest of the way open, making Kazuhiro and the _other woman_ jump. Seto looked mildly annoyed, giving her a look that said he expected more of her. She was too angry to care. _She _was still holding onto Kazuhiro's hand.

"Oh mommy, come meet this nice lady. Daddy said that she is his friend." Kazuhiro skipped over to his mother and hugged her leg. Reiko picked him up and hugged him tightly; he rested his head on her shoulder as she walked toward Seto and what's-her-name.

The woman was immaculately dressed in designer clothes from head to toe. She had amazingly clear grey-blue eyes and unnaturally light brown hair. Reiko felt inferior with her fitted jeans, slightly baggy v-neck t-shirt, brown eyes and dark brown hair. She didn't even love Kaiba and she was burning up with envy.

"You must be Reiko; it's very nice to meet you." The still nameless woman reached out her hand in order to greet her properly. Reiko stared at her hand and turned to Seto.

"It looks like someone forgot the order of operations."

He narrowed his ocean blue eyes at her and she deepened her frown. "Reiko, don't be impolite."

Kazuhiro, who had been quietly playing with the droplets of water that were dripping from his mother's hair, turned around in her arms and blinked at his father. Seto's eyes softened when he noticed his son looking at him expectantly; he was clearly wondering what his mother was doing wrong.

"Mama, what's wrong?"

He was as perceptive as ever. Reiko kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair, "Nothing baby, everything's wonderful." He didn't look convinced, so Reiko changed the topic. "Now I thought I sent you down here to get some crayons. Why are you bothering your daddy in his office?"

"Uncle Mokuba and I were coloring in here last night," he admitted sheepishly. Reiko smiled at him genuinely and the little boy smiled and cuddled against her. "I don't wanna leave right now."

"Kazuhiro, your mother and I have things to talk about."

"But daaaddy –" the little boy stopped himself when he realized that he was whining – and in front of a guest, too.

Reiko kissed his forehead. "Why don't you run off and find Mokuba? You two should have some breakfast. By the time you're done eating, your father and I should be done."

He looked reluctant as his mother set him down, but he scampered off nonetheless. She turned back to Seto and motioned to the set of four high-back chairs that were in a half circle around a coffee table facing an enormous window that looked into the gardens. Reiko slumped into one of the chairs closer to the window and brushed the blue velvet with her fingers nervously.

"I'm sorry for being impolite, I just didn't expect to be evicted from my home so quickly." She looked up to make eye contact with Seto and then the nameless woman. The pair had chosen to leave one seat open between themselves and Reiko. Seto sat directly across from her and the woman sat to his right. For the first time in years, he looked like a celebrity, like someone who didn't belong to her; especially with his girlfriend and lover by his side.

The emptiness of the chair beside her haunted her and she could almost see the outline of someone she longed for filling it in; she felt tears in her eyes.

"Reiko, this is Katsumi. I asked her to come here today, but I didn't intend for Kazuhiro to see her just yet." He was in full-on business mode as he spoke. Reiko wondered if that would get to Katsumi.

"I'd like to say it's nice to meet you, Katsumi, but I think you understand."

The beautiful woman nodded, her perfectly symmetrical face showing empathy. Reiko wanted to claw her eyes out.

"Well, you said that you wanted to meet her. So, here she is." Seto paused, as if to check his own mental itinerary. "She met Kazuhiro, and if you'd have shown up five seconds earlier, she would have met him in your presence, as you requested."

Katsumi took that as a cue to speak. "Reiko, I have no intention of replacing you as Kazuhiro's mother. I could never fill your shoes." Reiko noted that her tone had changed and now she sounded rehearsed – like a business woman. No wonder she and Kaiba got along. "You've obviously done a wonderful job of raising him. It seems like he really loves you."

Reiko nodded her head, playing with her diamond ring. It was suddenly cold on her finger. Or maybe it was her hands that were cold.

"I've done a lot to make sure that this family did not suffer from public humiliation. I have denied my past, covered up scandal after scandal of a cheating husband, demolished rumors of our split before they could hit the big media. This might have been a loveless marriage, but I _do_ love my family. I would do anything for them. Seto, Mokuba, my parents, and above all Kazuhiro." She paused to gather her thoughts and give them each meaningful looks. "I expect that you both are planning on having children. I only hope that you would keep up the tradition of making sure to save this family from ridicule."

The pair nodded, and Seto looked about ready to speak, but Reiko wasn't done quite yet.

"Now, just because I am stepping down from my position at KC and leaving this home, I expect that you both understand that I will be no less of a presence in my son's life. He's been everything to me for the past five years."

Katsumi nodded. There was a flash of annoyance in her eyes, but she had no choice but to agree. Seto and Reiko had already signed a contract.

Seto looked particularly touched by Reiko's statement; he reached across the coffee table and held her hand. She stared down at his fingers as they engulfed her own. "Rei, I have to apologize for the crappy job I did of being your husband."

She looked up at him and saw the man that she had dated, the man who had helped her put herself back together. "I did love you. I was just never _in_ love with you. I never allowed myself to feel that much with you."

Reiko was staring straight into his eyes and she felt a little uncomfortable at his heartfelt confession. There was genuine emotion in his normally flat blue eyes. Reiko could only imagine that Katsumi was seething.

She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that she hadn't realized had started to slide down her face. She hated crying. She looked _horrible_ when she cried and she was certain Ms. Perfect was only making her look more hideous in comparison. Seto sighed and gave her hand one last squeeze before letting go.

"I have to thank you, Seto, for giving me this opportunity. For helping put me back together … for giving me the best thing to ever happen to me." Reiko smiled up at him and stood. "It was nice to meet you, Katsumi; I hope that you do your best to maintain the Kaiba name."

Reiko walked slowly until she closed the study door.

* * *

Reiko sat down in the formal dining room. Her parents had just arrived and they were seated in front of her. They were both listening to Kazuhiro tell an elaborate story about what he and his uncle had done the day before when his mom had not been able to pick him up like they had planned. Mokuba had invited his girlfriend Suzume over and she greeted Reiko with a warm hug and kiss. Mokuba was very close to proposing to her and, despite her present situation and her own frustrations, she couldn't help but share in the excitement that seemed to radiate from the young couple.

The jovial mood quickly changed when Seto appeared with Katsumi in tow. Reiko's parents shot her inquisitive glances but she ignored them in hopes of saving face. The reprieve was not long lived, however, because after the first course was served, her mother looked at her pointedly and asked why exactly they'd all been invited to dinner at the manor.

The formal dining room suddenly felt much too small and much too hot. Reiko smiled and looked over to her left, purposely looking over Kazuhiro's head, where Seto sat with Katsumi to his left. Seto took a long sip of wine and cleared his throat. "Reiko and I have invited you here so that you wouldn't have to hear about this from the tabloids."

He paused and Reiko felt her appetite disappear. Her stomach churned as she saw him forming the sentence that would officially change her life forever.

"What are you talking about, son?"

Reiko's eyes snapped from her father's to Seto's and she felt Mokuba reach over and squeeze her hand under the table.

"We're getting a divorce."

Every last eye at the table turned to Reiko as she felt herself grow really red and then really pale much too quickly. She was so woozy that she hardly felt her son tugging on her hair to ask her what a "dee-vorz" was. Seto cleared his throat and Reiko suddenly regained her senses, although she continued to studiously ignore her parent's looks.

"Is this true, Seto?" It was Reiko's mother who finally broke the awkward silence that had fallen over the room's inhabitants. Reiko put her arm around Kazuhiro to quiet her four year-old son.

"Yes. It is." He was looking over at Reiko but his hand was firmly in Katsumi's grasp. "Reiko's things have been packed and we've already discussed the details. She's moving out tonight."

Chopsticks clattered to the table at the finality of his statement. A wide grin spread across Katsumi's face as Seto's gaze turned to her. Mokuba whispered something into Suzume's ear and she slapped a hand over her mouth. Reiko's parents stood up. Reiko's father had his hands bunched into fists and her mother was holding him back with a shaking hand. But Reiko could not hear a thing other than her son's sobs as he repeated a heartbreaking phrase like a mantra: "Mommy's leaving?"

* * *

She pushed her bangs out of her bleary brown eyes, her fingers trembling as she rubbed them back and forth over the scar on her forehead. Her breathing had finally evened out, but the migraine she'd developed over the course of the last few hours was still pounding her skull.

Seto had a limo take her and a bag of essentials to a five star hotel for the night and, since all expenses were included, she had helped herself to the minibar. She hadn't mixed vodka and whiskey in one night since college, way before she had met Seto and not too long after her white-haired lover had left her. Left her alone in that too small apartment.

The same apartment that she'd be going back to as soon as the sun rose.

* * *

Hey everyone! Sorry about the crappy formatting, but this is being published from my iPad because my laptop charger is MIA -_- Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I honestly, ardently ADORE YOU :)

Much Love to CraftyLion, I think you're up?

xx

Red


	4. Chapter 4

_Suppose you were to die tonight.  
What would you say?  
Do you believe in life after death?_

_In the chill of the night,  
I can feel my heart racing,  
As I run towards the light,  
That seems so far away,  
Wondering forever, in the darkest of shadows,  
Wondering if I will ever see you again._

_Wondering if I will ever see you again._

_I'll take your love (I'll take your love),  
I'll take your hate (take your hate),  
I'll take your desire._

_I'll take the world,  
When it turns on you (when it turns on you),  
I'll set it afire._

Linkin Park - Walking Dead

* * *

It had been eerie to walk back up the steps. She hadn't set foot in the small space for five years. It was odd to see it; odd to be back there. She had asked Seto to send in a cleaning crew. They were instructed to tidy everything up, but to throw nothing away.

One look around told her that they had done quite a good job. She couldn't judge their work completely, however, until she got into the bedroom. That was the room she would save for last.

Reiko slowly walked around the pile of suitcases that she had just finished bringing up, her eyes dragging up and down the walls. She and Ryou had never had the chance to put up many pictures on the wall, but the gilded mirror that he had surprised her with when they moved in was still hung above the couch. Her brown eyes shied away from her reflection, but she couldn't miss seeing how haggard she looked. Her eyes were red, swollen, and itchy. She had cried long into the night and it was reflected in the dark skin under her eyes.

She snapped out of her self-criticism when she nearly tripped over the coffee table. Reiko steadied herself on the couch and noticed that it looked cleaner than it had been before they bought it all those years ago and she smiled a little to herself when she realized that she had much lower standards back then. Or that happiness does really put a shine on dull things.

The carpet was scratchy against her bare feet as she made her way into the tiny kitchen. The mugs and papers that had been scattered in the living room were neatly put away in the cupboard and stacked on the breakfast bar, respectively. A particular piece of paper with his handwriting caught her eye and she quickly tucked it into a random textbook, her bottom lip trembling and her heart thumping.

After wiping away a few tears from her eyes, she resigned herself to putting away the small bag of groceries that she'd bought on her way over, her own way of being efficient and stalling for time all rolled into one.

After Reiko had done everything that she could think of in the front room and in the bathroom, she decided to finally open the bedroom door. With her fingers on the knob, she counted to three and threw the door open. The sight she beheld brought up a complex concoction of emotions; the bed was still there, still the same, the dresser and the blinds and the blankets and, in the very center of the room, were the crates filled with letters that she had never sent and letters that she had never read.

Upon seeing them and feeling the familiar weight in her chest, she decided that she had done more than enough for one month and closed the door. She remembered the couch was pretty comfortable to sleep on and it would suit her just fine now.

* * *

Reiko had been living in the apartment for a month. Her daily routine was simple, monotonous even. She woke up at six every morning to shower and eat breakfast. By seven, she was walking out the door and arriving at the Kaiba Mansion in order to pick up Kazuhiro for school. He had started at Domino College Preparatory Elementary earlier that fall for kindergarten. Seto was paying through the nose for his son to have the best education available to the youth of Domino.

Her son always had new stories about the friends that he met at school. One girl was the daughter of Japan's most sought after supermodel who liked to wear her hair in a new style everyday and had her nails polished twice a week. Another boy was the son of the owner of Mitsubishi Motors who spent his weekends driving mini versions of the company's most popular vehicles on his own personal racetrack. Other children had similar stories; their rich parents let them fly to the South of France in the summer or take weekend trips to China to do some exclusive shopping.

Reiko liked to think that her son was normal, unlike the spoiled rotten baby geniuses he went to school with, but she knew that it was stretching the truth. Kazuhiro had access to all of the finest, newest, most high-tech products in Japan, and most of the world for that matter. Seto had made sure that his son was familiar with computers before he could even walk. Reiko could swear that Kazuhiro knew more about how her cellphone worked then she would ever want or even care to know.

Those trips to Domino College Prep were the highlight of her day, especially because the next eight hours of her day were spent at a new in-house PR firm, trying to make the son of the company's owner look like a saint when, in fact, he was the incarnation of Lucifer himself. Reiko and her coworkers put in long hours to keep the family-friendly company looking like just that, a family-friendly company. That required long meetings with Mr. Hokkaido and the younger Mr. Hokkaido, both together and separately. It also meant that she had to suffer the younger Hokkaido's passes and sexual advances.

Reiko had sworn off men for the time being. She knew that she was "damaged goods." No one had ever stayed with her long-term, why would someone want to now that she had a divorce and a son under her belt? A high-profile divorce at that.

The news had hit hard. Reporters flocked back and forth between the Kaiba Mansion and her small apartment near the university that she had once attended. Her parents were constantly being pestered. It wasn't until Seto came out and held a day-long interview that the media hype finally died down. Reiko would not have minded all of the commotion so much if it weren't for the fact that her son had to deal with the brunt of it. Luck was on their side, however, as far as Kazuhiro's friends were concerned - divorce was nothing to bat an eyelash at when your parents were internationally renowned.

Sometimes, she would get to pick up Kazuhiro from school and, if the opportunity presented itself (meaning that Katsumi wasn't home), Reiko would spend some time with her five year-old at the mansion and help him with his homework after preparing him an after school snack.

Reiko would then go home and make herself a small dinner and eat it in front of the television or her laptop, depending on which held more interest for her.  
It was a normal Friday night when Reiko got a phone call at three in the morning. It took her all of two seconds to recognize the number on the caller ID and she answered it, sleep completely gone from her mind and her hands shaking.

"Rei, he's sick. He's sweating so much and he won't stop crying and asking for you."

By the time the sentence was out of Seto's mouth, she was already pulling on a pair of sweat pants and her flip flops. "He's saying he feels like he needs to throw up."

"Have you called his doctor yet? See if he'll give you a diagnosis over the phone. I'm already in my car and on my way," she said as she peeled out of the parking lot at full speed. She reminded herself to be grateful to Seto for allowing her to keep her car and for springing for the sports package.

The gate opened slowly and allowed her in. She left her car parked right in front of the house and bolted in through the unlocked front door. She got up the steps in record time and, once she heard him sobbing from down the hall, picked up her pace double time.

Kazuhiro was lying in bed with a cool towel on his forehead, but his nose was running and Katsumi was rubbing his little arm and trying to comfort him while Seto was describing his son's symptoms angrily into his cell phone. As soon as Kazuhiro saw his mother, he lit up and crawled toward her, "Mommy, mommy everything hurts and daddy wanted me to take some medicine and Katsumi was saying that I should listen to him, but I don't wanna take that medicine because it makes me get itchy and -"

"Shush," Reiko said while covering his little lips with her index finger. "Daddy doesn't know that you're allergic to that medicine, Kaz, and I'm certain he didn't understand you if you were whining." The little boy looked bashful and tucked his head into the hollow of his mother's neck.

"Mommy, your skin's so cold!"

Reiko looked down at her son with warm, motherly eyes and smiled. "I forgot that it was snowing outside. Your dad called and all I could think about was getting here to make sure that you were okay, You know that you come first Kazuhiro, even if I'm not living under the same roof as you anymore."

The little boy sniffled and nodded, coughing a little because of the phlegm in his throat. "Now, let's go clean up your nose and give you a nice cool bath," she grunted a little as she rose from the bed with the tall little boy in her arms before turning to Katsumi with a bit of attitude, "Would you mind getting some chicken soup on the stove? Kazuhiro and I will be right down."

Reiko didn't miss the look in Katsumi's eyes or the way that she was dressed, for that matter. It seemed that Kazuhiro's cold had interrupted more than his mother's sleep.

* * *

After getting some soup and crackers into his stomach Kazuhiro's nausea had faded. Reiko had brought in the dye-free cold medicine from her car (she always carried a spare) and gave him a dose before instructing Seto on how much he should take and at what intervals.

He had just fallen asleep when Seto came in to check on him. Reiko was sitting beside him with her back against the headboard absently stroking his brown hair behind his ears. "You're a natural at this, Reiko. I was totally lost."

"That's not true, you're more than capable." She paused as she fixed him with her gaze. "You were just caught off guard." She gestured to his mostly unbuttoned night shirt. He didn't miss the pointed gaze, nor did he miss the hint of longing.

"Yeah, Katsumi and I were ..." he trailed off and took a few steps forward to sit on the bed beside her. "It's nice to know that I can call you."

She offered him a small smile. "Of course, divorced or not he's our son and he is going to have both of his parents by his side for as long as possible."

Reiko didn't notice that she had leaned forward while whispering back to Seto. He hardly realized that he had done the same. The both noticed when their lips met in a chaste, albeit inappropriate, kiss.

Reiko jumped off the bed as though she had been shocked and Seto looked like he was kicking himself for crossing the line. "I should go, Seto. Kazuhiro is going to sleep through the night and since tomorrow is Saturday, he should just stay in bed. Make sure he has his chicken soup and crackers with his medicine. I'll leave this one here with you and I'll pick up one of my own later."

"I'll walk you out."

She smiled and nodded, leaning down to kiss her son before leaving the room and making her way down the stairs.

"When am I going to be able to have him over for the night?"

She hadn't meant to ask that question. She hadn't even really been thinking about it. It was more than likely inspired by the fact that she was once again experiencing the pain of leaving the Kaiba Mansion in the dead of night, the pain of leaving her baby behind.

"I just think that, for now, it's best he stay here -"

She cut Seto off by holding up her hand. "It's fine, forget I asked. I'll call you in the morning to see how he's doing."

With that, she was gone, stepping through the patches of ice on the front steps and the driveway before climbing into her house and returning to her couch in the apartment that hadn't felt like home in years.

* * *

*Two months later*

Reiko closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands. It had been a long day at the office and she was nowhere near done with her goals for the day. It was really hard getting back into the swing of things after a long weekend. Particularly when the younger Hokkaido decided to spend the night with several ladies from a "gentleman's club" and then parade them around in the lobby of his hotel.

"Rei? Reiko? Are you still here?" She looked up to see Jun, her coworker, peering into her office (which was, in reality, a shoebox) and giving her a look. "Shouldn't you be on your way now? I thought you said you had to pick your son up."

Reiko looked up into his grey eyes. "Oh, no my brother-in-law, ugh, ex-brother-in-law - Mokuba," she paused as she settled on what to call him. "Mokuba is picking him up and taking him shopping for some ridiculous science fair project that his school assigned him. He wants to make a hologram of the solar system."

He laughed like she had just told the funniest joke he'd ever heard and stepped further into her office. "So, if you don't have plans tonight anymore," he paused to adjust his tie, "Would you be interested in joining me for dinner tonight?"  
She tore her eyes from the press release that she had been typing up and gaped at him, her mouth hanging open like a fish. "Uh ..."

His eyes dimmed for a moment, but he didn't seem deterred. "Well, maybe not tonight. How does Saturday night sound?"

She bit her lip, considering his offer as she closed her laptop and tucked it into her tote bag. Her divorce had not yet been finalized, but that didn't mean she couldn't date. And it had been a while ...

"Well, how about we start with lunch? I'm off on Friday but I can meet you during your lunch hour." She smiled at him and hoped that he wouldn't get his hopes too high. She still did not want a serious boyfriend, or a boyfriend at all. Her life was simple, but it was an easy routine to follow; there were zero chances of her getting her heart broken any further.

Jun nodded and smiled and accompanied her to her car.

* * *

He climbed out of the taxi and made his way over to the ticket booth. The train he needed to get on was about to depart and after all the traveling he'd done, he didn't feel like elongating his voyage by missing the last train of the day. He ran his hands through his ash blonde hair as the clerk took his card and waited for the ticket to print.

The conductor was making his last announcement just as he stepped over the threshold, his work boots making a bit of a sloshing sound on the damp train floor from the snow that the rest of the passengers had tracked inside the railcar. It was only another hour before he arrived in Domino and he was eager to be back.

He quickly found an empty seat and placed his large knapsack on the seat beside him. His brown eyes shifted from the rapidly changing scenery to the newspaper that had brought him back in the first place. Reiko Fujiyama was getting divorced. Seto Kaiba had finally let her go, a stupid mistake that he himself had once committed, and he was hoping against hope for a second chance with her.

He looked down at his hands, well worn from his time abroad, and sighed. He had grown up so much after leaving Japan. He'd finished his schooling at Oxford and then gone to Egypt to work on excavating old tombs with his father's company. He'd quickly realized that Egypt was too familiar in a bad way and had asked to be transferred to a site in South America.

He wasn't sure how he was ever going to find her, but he knew that he had to try. It had taken him thirteen years, but Ryou Bakura had grown up to the point that he knew that he could love someone else exclusively and faithfully and with his entire being. There was nothing left to be afraid of. He'd become a man that he could be proud of and now he only hoped that Reiko would see him. All he wanted was to see her one more time, and not through the television like he had when it got out that she was married. He would have come sooner, had there been a television or internet reception in the jungle he had been working in.

* * *

There you are my darlings :) I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! My poor little fingers are killing me, but as long as I get a couple reviews it is well worth the effort.

A mighty big thanks to my two reviewers: CraftyLion and winnie.

Thank you for reading, reviews are LOVE.


	5. Chapter 5

Kismet – kis·met [noun]

1. Fate or destiny.

2. Belief that your life is already planned. The belief that what happens to you in your life is already planned and you cannot control it.

* * *

Ryou stared up at the neon sign in front of him that read "Bachelor's Paradise Hotel" and frowned. Like his father before him, he had been out of Japan so long that he had forgotten how awkward motels were. It was dark out and well past midnight so, unfortunately, it would have to do. He had misplaced (lost) his key to his father's house in his luggage, which really just consisted of a comically large knapsack, and because the train had been delayed due to the irregular amount of snowfall he had arrived too late to call a locksmith to let him in.

He'd considered breaking in but that stray, innocent tangent in conjunction with the fact that he'd just returned to his own personal Ground Zero took him to a very dark place. Flashes of _**him**_, the demon who had demolished any sense of self he'd ever had, came rushing to him and he had literally run out of his old neighborhood to the first lodging he could find.

He walked down the sterile looking halls until he found his "room." In order to save space and, perhaps, discourage long-time tenants Bachelor's Paradise put their customers up in strange tube-like "rooms" that were really just beds with hardly enough room to even sit up. Thankfully Ryou had gotten over his claustrophobia a long time ago, something he owed to exploring ruins and occasionally being locked up in his own mind.

He was so exhausted from his travels that he merely rinsed himself off in the communal showers, threw a semi-clean outfit on and fell asleep straightaway, fully dressed and looking forward to what the next few days would bring.

* * *

Reiko woke up on Wednesday with a smile on her face. It was such a rare occurrence in the past few months that she was utterly surprised when she sat up on the couch and saw her face in the gilded mirror. She looked normal. Her cheeks were flushed pink from being a little too warm under three thick blankets and her skin was clear, if not glowing. Maybe her date with Jun would be good for her.

She neatly folded up her sleeping gear and placed her tea kettle on the stove before going in for her morning shower. For the first time in years she turned on the old shower radio and hummed along with the vaguely familiar songs on the radio.

It wasn't until after she'd dropped off Kazuhiro and made it into her office did she feel it. Something in the air was different. She assumed that it must have been her getting over the divorce. Maybe this meant that she had officially moved past it all. She'd transcended.

Reiko wasn't one to question good things, not after all she'd been through. She embraced it and went on with her day.

Jun asked to sit with her in the company cafeteria and she allowed it. They had an animated conversation about some cheesy reality TV show that they had both seen the night before. A few hours later when the younger Hokkaido came in for his scheduled meeting she handled his macho attitude with more grace than usual and even got him to agree to go to the local children's hospital and read to the sick toddlers.

After work she got a call from Suzume, Mokuba's fiancée and had agreed to meet up with the couple for dinner. She had promised to bring Kazuhiro, informing Reiko that Mokuba would pick him up on his way home. Reiko took advantage of the extra time, not really liking to be left alone in the apartment for long stretches of time, and went to the mall after work to window shop.

And that was when her luck started to dwindle. At her favorite clothing store she ran into Serenity and her brother Joey. Serenity greeted her with a sweet hug and smile, but Joey eyed her warily. Not only had she and Ryou broken up a long time ago, she had been married to his arch nemesis. The first words out of his mouth were, "So, how's Money Bags been treating you now that, well, ya know?"

With practiced composure Reiko had replied, "Seto has been very generous to me, I'm pretty lucky as far as these things go."

Serenity had intervened before her brother could shove his foot any father down his throat and smiled, "That's good, is your son doing well? He's very handsome, from what I've seen."

For a moment Reiko felt horrible for falling out of touch with her old high school acquaintances. Well, Ryou's old high school acquaintances. The feeling evaporated when she thought his name and she smiled tiredly at Serenity, "Kazuhiro is doing so well. He's a great kid."

Their strange encounter ended just a few moments later and Reiko made her way out of the mall and back to her car. She rested her forehead against the steering wheel before regaining herself and driving over to the restaurant. She knew that she was a little bit early, but she was eager to see her son. She checked in with the hostess and then excused herself to the restroom in order to freshen up.

She looked at herself in the floor-length mirror of the posh restaurant's ladies' room. The walls were done in silver and blue tile with mirrors lining each wall and sea-foam colored stainless steel stalls. She was wearing one of the expensive business suits that she had kept from her time as Seto's wife. She smoothed the khaki skirt in the mirror and adjusted the collar of her orchid-colored silk dress shirt (she had checked her coat at the front desk).

She pulled her compact out of her purse and powdered her nose, laughing to herself about how silly it was. She fixed her hair into a less messy bun and smiled at herself in the mirror. A few years ago no one would have thought - especially not Reiko herself - that she could put herself back together all by herself. Here she was, recently divorced, hanging out with her ex-brother-in-law and her son at a nice restaurant, fending off awkward encounters with old acquaintances, and even chatting up a cute guy from work. In the back of her mind she knew that her life wasn't perfect and that there was a gaping hole in her heart, but she was putting on a good show and feeling better about herself and her situation with each and every passing day.

* * *

"And then Daddy came home and helped me fix the glitch that Uncle Mokuba didn't understand."

Reiko stared at her son as he explained something so complex that the five year-old really had no business knowing so much about and smiled, "So were you able to get all the planets in their proper orbit?"

"Oh you bet, thanks to me and my math skills we got a winner over here. If he doesn't take number one at the science fair - particularly in his age group - I'll eat a whole tray of those gross KaibaLand Blue-Eyes Rice Krispies treats," Mokuba cut it, waving his fork around.

"Those are," Suzume paused to take a bite of her shrimp pasta, "Actually really good. And how could Kazuhiro not take first place, at very least in his age group. He's brilliant," she wiped her mouth with her napkin and beamed at Reiko, "You have to be the proudest mom in the world. I can't even imagine having such a smart little boy as my son."

Reiko smiled as Kazuhiro blushed and stuffed a large mushroom into his already overloaded mouth, "Of course I'm proud! And," she wiped a bit of sauce from her son's cheek, "You will know what it's like to have such a smart child. I don't think brilliance is missing from either one of the Kaiba's gene pool. You and Mokuba are going to give Kaz some cousins that'll give him a run for his money - figuratively speaking," she laughed. There was no way that Kazuhiro was going to miss a penny of his father's fortune, not even if Seto had more children. He would always have first claim to Kaiba Corporation.

Mokuba laughed good-naturedly and wrapped his arm around Suzume, "And she wants to have lots of kids."

His fiancée giggled and Kazuhiro went off on a tangent about how he could teach his cousins how to make things and play games. Just like that Reiko was back to having the most wonderful day she'd had in years.

* * *

Reiko was reading the paper when she heard her phone go off. One quick glance told her that her she needed to get going if she wanted to make her lunch date with Jun. It had been difficult to admit to herself when she had been getting ready that morning, but she was actually excited to be going out on a date.

She looked at herself in the mirror above the couch, her outfit wasn't over the top, just dressy enough to fit in with the other business people who were going to be swarming the restaurant that they were going to get lunch at. Her hair was up in a ponytail so that she could wrap her scarf around her neck, the cold had settled in and there seemed to be no relief in the future.

She pulled her boots on over her skinny jeans and wool socks and made sure that she buttoned her coat before she got out into the breezy hall. With her car keys gripped in her hand she trekked out into the parking lot and slowly made her way over the icy roads. When she got into downtown she could only find parking at the mall and had to walk the three blocks over to the bistro she was meeting up with Jun at.

"Just perfect," she grumbled under her breath as she merged onto the sidewalk and began making her way with the pushy crowds. The only thing that kept her going was the promise of hot oolong tea and the udon noodles that she was going to order. Her soft brown leather gloves were tucked deep into her pockets as she half-pushed, half allowed herself to be pushed in the direction of her destination. And then it happened.

In one lifetime you'll see thousands of individuals. Hundreds and hundreds of people walking up and down the street, hurrying to where they need to go, walking slow and enjoying their time, just wandering. Thousands of faces, different every day, every moment as the crowds move along. What are the odds that one day they'd meet again? Just another pair of faces, another pair of bodies moving through the crowded streets of Domino City … When Reiko brushed past the ash-blond man, their shoulders touching for a fraction of a second, she looked out of the corner of her eye and muttered a rushed apology.

She took another step before something happened. There was a shift in the atmosphere; something changed, the air seemed charged with electricity.

She spun on her heel, ignoring the complaints of the people moving around her, it was lunch time and everyone was pushing their way through the crowd to find a fast meal before heading back to the office.

He was looking over his shoulder, his chocolate brown eyes met hers and it was as though the universe pulsed. He turned around. Those eyes – he'd know them anywhere. The world disappeared; the noise of the city stopped and all he could hear was his heart beat in his ears.

All those moments they had been apart felt like eons; centuries had passed since they had been this close to one another. Just a few steps and they'd be touching. Panic had rooted Reiko to the spot. She'd envisioned this moments for years. Thirteen years. Four thousand seven hundred forty-eight days. Ryou ran a hand through his hair; there was no doubting that she had recognized him despite its short cut and new color. He was closing the gap between them – if someone were watching from the crowd, they'd say that he sprinted the eight feet between them, but to Ryou if felt like he was moving through water.

Reiko's eyes were glazed over, but she had never seen him more clearly. She was trembling; her heart was hammering in her chest. And just like that, they were standing toe to toe in a crowd of people they'd never see again, finally seeing the only person that mattered. It was fucking _kismet_.

What were the odds that she would push him away if he tried to hug her? What if he tried to kiss her? They certainly could not be in his favor and still he reached out and pulled her into his arms where she half collapsed and half hugged him back.

There was a horrifying moment where she tugged herself back out of tight embrace and his heart dropped. The dream he was having too good to be true. That was when he saw the look in her eyes. She looked angry, miserable, tortured, relieved, happy. He was more optimistic in that one moment than he had been in the thirteen years of his absence or anytime since.

Ryou was trying to decipher her actions, she could tell by the focused look in his dark brown eyes. Her stomach was fluttering and she felt nauseous. There he was, standing in front of her - not more than half an inch away, thanks to the crowds - and she could not think of a thing to do or say. Her hands were trembling and she felt a familiar itch in her palm. She wanted to slap him, slap him to make him feel all the pain that she had gone through in his absence. Slap him until her hand fell off from the mere force of her hits - but she also wanted to kiss him. Throw her arms around his legs and hold him in place so that he could never leaver her again because she knew, she just knew, that she would never make it if he left her again.

And so she did the only reasonable thing she could think of. Reiko launched herself into Ryou's arms, her own arms roughly grabbing the back of his neck and shoulders to steady herself, her legs shooting out to wrap themselves around his waist. There was no doubt that she had kicked some people, but she could not find it in herself to care if someone showed up at work with a wet footprint on their slacks.

It took him exactly one millisecond to respond to Reiko's advances, he'd been about ready to do the same at the drop of a hat. The only thing that held him back was the look of terror that had seized her face as she contemplated him. He knew that she was afraid that he would leave her again. Hell, he was afraid that this town might overwhelm him and that he would try and leave Domino for good himself. Then reason took over and he knew he had to stay and he had to make it work because he deserved to live wherever he desired and he desired to live with Reiko.

When she pulled away Reiko found herself panting in a way that had not been familiar to her in thirteen years. She was at the point of tears, her lips were pulled back and wavering between an elated smile and a grimace. She could not put a finger on what emotion to feel and so she just felt.

Her hands tugged at his jacket, her legs tightened around his waist and her nose traced the line of his jaw. He was real. She could smell him despite the coldness of his face she could feel his hot pulse when she applied enough pressure to just the right spot. She heard him sigh and his arms tightened tenfold, much more than she could have ever imagined him capable of.

There were so many words on the tip of her tongue but her teeth were clenched so tight that none of them could escape. She wanted to yell at him, to tear out of his arms and leave him the way he had left her, but the very thought terrified her. She had lived for years wondering if she had been what had driven him away, she could not bear to live with the fact that she had driven him away the second time.

And then the cold fingers of fear clutched at her spirit again, tore away at her hope - what if he did not intend to stay? She was so caught up in herself that she completely missed what he had been saying to her, completely missed the fact that he had begun walking them out of the crowd and toward an parking garage where there was less foot-traffic.

"... I just need to find somewhere we can talk."

She pulled back, her legs releasing his hips and her fingers untangling themselves from his awfully short, awfully wrong colored hair, "Talk?"

He released her cautiously, taking the last few steps of his journey with awkward hobbles thanks to the fact that she was half dangling in his arms. She looked up at him with expectant brown eyes, her mouth opened and her hands clenched into fists. He had to get it out before she banished him from her sight, he needed her to listen.

"I was looking for you."

Reiko's mouth snapped shut and she stumbled back as though he had struck her. Looking for her?

"Yes, I was looking for you."

She blushed as she realized that she had spoken out loud, "Why would you be looking for me?"

He frowned down at her and she got the feeling that the expression had made a home for itself on his once youthful features. His eyes had crinkles around them, but they looked like they were more from squinting than from laughter like they should have been. There were creases around his mouth and she felt her fingers twitch with the desire to touch them. His face was darker than she had ever seen it - not that his current skin tone could ever be described as dark - a few shades away from her own warm peach-colored skin.

"Reiko, would you please just say something?"

She blinked at him, he still had his accent when he spoke Japanese, but now there was something more. His voice had grown deeper and it was enough to make her weak in the knees. He stared at her expectantly and she realized that she must have missed his words again.

"Sorry, this is all just ... so ... it's not real."

His features fell as she spoke, how much damage had he done to her in his absence?

"I'm here Reiko, and I'm ready to talk."

At that she laughed. It was bitter and hollow even in her own ears. He wanted to talk to her after he left her alone in their apartment all those years ago. He left her when he was the first man in her life besides her father. When he promised her with every kiss and every touch that he meant to be with her forever. Her throat was swelling again and she could feel the anxiety rise up in her in a way that hadn't happened until shortly after she met Seto Kaiba. She had been broken until she met someone strong enough to pull her together, but that strength was gone now. He was no longer an entity that she run to, he wasn't going to shield her with his sharp tongue and lack of pity. He wasn't there to tell her to suck it up and move on or to leave the past in the past because there was nothing that would ever change it. And now Ryou Bakura wanted to talk about it. To talk about the past that she had tried so hard to overcome, to repress.

Ryou couldn't look away from her as she seemed to collapse in on herself, suddenly looking much younger than her thirty-two years. She looked scared again, like the girl he had seen after the abortion. He had a decision to make in that moment. He could take the easy way and run or he could sweep her up into his arms and put her back together; he could make her whole again and finish forgiving himself so that she could begin to forgive him.

Reiko felt his arms before she saw them. Her eyes were so full of tears that there was no way that she could make out distinct features anymore. She hated this, this crippling fear that kept her from speaking her mind to the one person that needed to hear it most. He needed to know how empty she was without him. How she needed him to stay this time. She was afraid to push him away with her reaction, but she couldn't gain enough control of herself to speak.

He held her tight and pulled her deeper into the parking garage, his fingers stroking the bangs out of her eyes. He was humming a familiar song to her and she slowly felt herself coming down, her face numb from the cold and her body shivering.

"Reiko, is there somewhere I can take you? It's too cold to stay out here."

"Come home with me."

She said it before she could register the thought. Home. She hadn't called it that in years. Her face faltered for a moment, but she pulled her keys out of her small clutch and handed them to him, "My car is over there."

He nodded to her, not questioning where "home" was because he knew. He had always known.

They walked up the stairs awkwardly. She was following him just one step behind, subconsciously wondering if he remembered. He stopped in front of the door and handed her the keys. She blinked at his open palm, her key fob bright pink in his black-gloved hand.

"Take it," he whispered, his free hand reaching into his coat and pulling out a necklace, "I have my own."

Reiko's fingers closed around the keys and her eyes locked on the pendant around his neck - not a pendant, a key. Her breath became shaky again, fresh tears burning in her eyes at the implication. He could have come back at anytime.

"You kept it."

She hadn't asked, merely stated, something she had picked up from her time with Kaiba. He nodded, a bitter feeling inside his heart as he realized that she had picked up another man's mannerisms. There was a jealousy that knocked him back on his toes, much worse than he had experienced earlier in the day when he had come face to face with the man. He pushed the thought away as he held the door open for her, she walked into her own apartment timidly, as though there were ghosts waiting for her beyond the threshold.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said, her voice a bit more even as she stepped into the small hall and into the restroom. He heard the water running for a few moments and when she emerged he saw that she had rinsed her face, much of her makeup washed away leaving her looking much like the girl he used to know.

While she had been taking care of herself he had removed his coat and his boots, he wanted it to be clear as day that he wasn't going to get up and run anytime soon. The details were not lost on her as she perched herself on the coffee table opposite his location on the couch. The neatly folded blanket and pillow to his right were not lost on him. She had been sleeping on the couch.

"What did you have to say? I think I'm ready to hear it."

So she was no-nonsense now, too. His lips parted from their thin, grim line and he spoke, "Reiko, I had a lot of demons," he paused at the expression on her face. "I need you to hear me out. I had a lot of fear in me, a lot of doubt."

Her expression turned to hurt and he wanted to beat himself. He had done that to her.

"What I mean is that I had a lot of doubt in myself. I wasn't sure that all the darkness was gone from me. I felt as though -"

"But I thought that I was here for you - I thought that you knew that I was here to help."

He watched her, her fingers trembling as they reached out to touch his hand - their first skin on skin contact. She pulled her hand back as though she had been electrocuted, and in a way she had. There was a strong jolt of feeling in that touch.

"I know Rei, I know. I thought that I was burdening you. I was afraid that I would drag you down. I was so depressed back then," he paused to look into her glassy doe eyes, "I had so much hatred for myself that I couldn't bare to love you," he grimaced, "That came out wrong. What I mean is that I hated myself because I wasn't happy with what I had."

He ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation, "I had everything. I had gotten rid of the dark spirit, I had gotten accepted to a wonderful university and all of that paled in comparison because I had you Rei. You were everything to me. In your absence I was so lonely. So self destructive."

She tilted her head and frowned, "What do you mean?"

"There was a reason I was afraid to live with you. I didn't want you to see me. Not the me that I kept locked away for the dark of night. The best version I ever had of myself was when I was with you. I needed to know that I could be that good without you - we were so young and you, you were so beautiful in such an understated way all throughout high school, but when we got to college you blossomed. I'm not surprised you found Kaiba."

Reiko was focusing so hard on his mouth that she knew she had heard him right, but she did not understand how he could be so confused, "Ryou, I blossomed because of **you**."

His expression faltered again and she clutched the end of the coffee table to keep herself from reaching out to him. He told her his story. He told her how he had tried to find peace. He told her everything. Almost everything.

Reiko found herself sharing, too. Talking to him about some of the dark moments after he left. How she had been diagnosed with anxiety and how she had resorted to partying for a long time before she found someone to put her back together again. Ryou's eyes burned when she broached the subject of Seto Kaiba.

He had been holding himself back so hard. He had been so determined to wait until she gave him some sort of signal, but he could not hold it in any longer. The jealousy burned him from the inside out and he needed to feel her. He had to make her his again. There was a pause in her monologue and he acted on impulse and instinct alone. He closed the gap between them and his plans to take it slow flew out the window.

When she felt his lips on hers she lost it. Her train of thought, her conflicted emotions, her entire past went out the window when he put his lips to hers. His tongue swept over her lips, hot and familiar and she opened up to him, her senses going haywire. Ryou was kissing her.

And she was kissing him back.

They kissed for a long while, his fingers slowly exploring her hair, tentatively touching her cheek with the pads of his thumbs. She had just as carefully leaned into him, her knees touching his, her had supporting the back of his neck. Her whole body was attuned to him when he pulled away. Nothing else in the world existed but Ryou Bakura.

Even with his wrong-colored hair and darker skin he was there, the boy that she had loved deep inside the man who had grown up after leaving her. There was a playfulness to his gaze that she had not seen in years, let alone the hours that she had just spent with him.

His heartfelt confessions, along with her own revelations, left her emotionally drained, but he was making her feel again. He was making her feel warm in places that had not been warm in years. He was making her desire in a way that she had not desired a man since the time she lost her virginity to him.

He was just a breath away from her, his lips so close that when he whispered to her she inhaled his words as much as she heard and felt them, "Reiko, I need you."

She broke, whatever resistance she had managed to put forth disappeared and she tumbled into his embrace, his arms tight around her and his lips covering hers. The stayed like that for a long while, kissing as much as they had spoken, but the lump in his jeans and the wetness in her panties could not be ignored. They needed one another. He asked her the question without ever speaking, his eyes searching hers as much as his tongue had searched her mouth.

She nodded to him, fear tugging at the corners of her mind (what was left of it). When he laid her down in the bed that only they had ever shared she felt tears fall down her face. He frowned and kissed them away, "Please don't be sad. It's all over now."

He whispered those words as he pulled off his sweater to reveal a short-sleeve t-shirt underneath, his hands reached out to pull her own sweater off and she leaned forward to allow him access. He laid over her and just stared into her eyes, her face revealing everything to him. She was surrendering and it drove him wild to think that she might accept him back into her life. A nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that this could be a one-time affair and that she could be gone in just a few hours but he ignored it. She wasn't going to go. She had never left him, even when he had disappeared from her life like light after sunset.

Reiko hardly noticed when he freed her from the last of her clothes, she was hyper aware of her nudity, but even more aware of his. The rest of his body was as pale as she remembered. His skin untouched by the harsh rays of sun he had endured as an archeologist in Egypt and then in South America. Her hands ran up and down his back, her fingers caressing him as he explored her.

He was whispering such sweet things in her ear and doing even sweeter things with his fingers. He had found his way down to her wet folds and his fingers stroked at her clit, burning her in such wonderful ways. She squirmed with delight in his arms, licking his neck in passionate attempt to hide her whimpers and moans.

"Reiko, god, Reiko. You're so much more beautiful than I remember. You're so much more," he cut himself off as he felt her orgasming. She trembled in his arms for long, glorious moments and he drank it all in. She was beautiful when she lost control, when she was his in this intimate way.

He continued to play with her breasts, larger now than when he had last beheld them, and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. Reiko was lost, floating on a cloud. He was there and so real and so much better than she had dared to remember. Every brush of their skin sent fire rushing through her veins and she knew she had to have him even closer. She pulled him down, her hips grinding on his until she was able to maneuver herself into just the right position - the tip of his hot member and her throbbing entrance.

He slipped his hand into hers just as he slipped himself into her, it was all he could do not to collapse into a bumbling idiot at the feeling she gave him. She heard him groan her name and she cried out as he thrust himself in again and again. He was glorious and beautiful and he had not forgotten how she liked it.

He was gentle but firm with her, molding her body into just the right positions in order to take full advantage of the moment, bringing them each the ultimate pleasure.

After long, long years he collapsed over her, sweaty and exhausted. He had exposed himself completely to her, poured his heart out and now he had physically given her all of him much in the way that she had given herself to him so many years ago. Her heart ached at the beauty of the moment.

They shared sweet, languid kisses until her eyes closed and she fell asleep. He tightened his hold on her as he followed her into blissful sleep, not allowing himself to fear the morning and ruin the tender moment.

* * *

I hope that was worth the wait! Thanks to CraftyLion and That Rocket Grunt for reviewing :)

Want a treat ...? Read below ;)

* * *

**Earlier that day ...**

Ryou walked up and down the large office. He had been there since early that morning; he was there on a hunch but her was more than sure that he was correct in his assumption. There was something very strange about the way that he had learned about Reiko's split with Kaiba. His newspapers and magazines had arrived in a _box_. There was no return address and it was addressed to him. No one knew where he was - not even his _father_.

And what sort of UPS or FEDEX delivered to ruins in the middle of the jungle?

He glanced out of the glass wall and smiled bitterly to himself. He heard footsteps and hid himself behind a bookshelf, not a moment later Seto Kaiba walked into the office. He was right on schedule and had just the right amount of confidence in his step. Ryou would have known his walk miles away. He waited for the CEO to feel his presence before making himself known.

"How did you get past security?"

"How did you know where to find me," he scoffed, purposely avoiding the question, he was the one who was going to get answers today. He wasn't about to reveal the tricks he'd learned from his dark half.

Kaiba's steely blue eyes locked on Ryou's brown ones. There was more going on between them than either one would like to admit. Kaiba sat down at his desk - his seat of power - and motioned for Ryou to sit, "Look Bakura, I have a very limited amount of time to waste on matters as insignificant as yours, but I have some time so I'll humor you."

Ryou advanced slowly, annoyed that Kaiba was using his surname but realizing that it was the only way he knew him. He leaned over the high-back blue velvet chair and tried not to sneer, "I don't think that Reiko is an 'insignificant matter' to either one of us."

Kaiba smirked and Ryou realized how much he _didn't_ miss being in high school with him, "Look I didn't do this for you. I didn't even want to do this at all. It was Mokuba's idea."

The other raised a skeptical blonde brow, "How did you find me?"

"Are you surprised that I kept track of Reiko's former lover? The one that tore her apart because he had to go find himself."

"I suppose that's not surprising, especially coming from someone like you," a deep frown marred his features as he spoke, "Just because you have the resources doesn't mean you get to play god," and after a pause he added, "And I don't believe this is how Mokuba wanted you to do this."

Kaiba laughed and Ryou lost his suave mask for a moment, "Like I said, I'm not doing this for you. Reiko needs closure. I see her reverting after our divorce."

It took everything Ryou had not to lunge at the man behind the dark wood desk, "You _fucker_, how dare you do this to her? How dare you compare our break up with your divorce? I didn't leave her for some floozy with pretty eyes!"

Kaiba snarled, slamming his hands down on his desk and rising out of his seat, "This is _my_ office and no one yells in here but **me**. When you left Reiko all those years ago she needed a real man to put her back together and I was there for her. She's the mother of my _son_. And now she's in denial."

"So you bring the villain from her past back and you come off smelling like roses? She'll see through this."

Kaiba leaned forward another fraction of an inch, "You won't breathe a word of this to her. Don't mess with me, Bakura," he smirked at his threat, "Now get the _fuck_ out of my office."

Ryou turned sharply on his heel and marched out of the building. He was going to prove Kaiba wrong. Now that he had a chance to win Reiko back he would. All he had to do was find her ...


	6. Chapter 6

And one to treasure for the rest of your days here

And give you pleasure in so many ways, dear

And finally you have found something perfect

And finally you have found

Here we go

Do you want me to show up for duty?

And serve this woman and honor her beauty?

And finally you have found something perfect

And finally you have found yourself with me

Will you agree to take this man into your world?

And now we are as one

Hard to Concentrate - Red Hot Chili Peppers

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

Ryou woke up to the smell of coffee and oatmeal. He blinked away the sleep from his eyes as he stretched his arms above his head. Reiko was no longer lying beside him and the stirrings in his soul were hard to ignore. What if Kaiba had been right and Reiko was leaving him now? What if the night before had merely been closure? As he thought back to the long night before he knew, he just knew, that it was more than he had ever hoped. She was not going to leave him.

With renewed conviction he rose from the bed, the sheets pooling around him as he searched for his boxers and t-shirt. After he was clothed he crossed the small hall into the bathroom and rinsed his face. He could hear Reiko bustling about in the kitchen and when he came into the small breakfast area he was shocked to find only one bowl and one mug. She had made him breakfast, but it seemed that she had no intention of eating with him. His blood ran cold as he pondered the possibilities.

Reiko stood on the kitchen side of the breakfast bar, fully dressed and made-up. She had risen early and watched Ryou sleep for the longest while. There were so many emotions swirling around in her that she couldn't think straight in his presence. She had called Kaiba and told him that she was going to take Kazuhiro out to breakfast and he had, instead, invited her to have breakfast with her son at the mansion seeing as how he and Katsumi were both going to be out for the morning. There had been a moment of hesitation where she almost left the apartment without waiting for Ryou to wake, but her heart wouldn't let her do it. Something inside of her would not let her abandon him the way he had done to her all those years ago.

She busied herself with making him breakfast with the few supplies she had. She cut slivers of banana and boiled water for oatmeal and instant coffee. When she heard him enter the bathroom she steeled herself. No part of what had happened in the past twenty-four hours seemed real anymore. Not to mention that she had several missed calls from Jun, the coworker that she had unintentionally forgotten about. His messages were full of concern because she had missed their lunch date and she could not muster the desire to call him back and try to explain the situation. She had summed it up in a quick text: Sorry. Ran into an unexpected friend. Had a few things to work out. See you at work.

She was staring down at her phone when Ryou sat down at the stool that once was his.

"Are you not going to eat with me, Rei?"

His voice made her stomach flutter and her heart skip a beat, he was talking to her the way that he used to. The way a lover would speak to his loved one. She took a deep breath before moving her eyes up to meet his, "No. I have a lot to think about and I'm not entirely sure that I can do that with you here," she paused to give him time to absorb her words and give herself time to phrase the next part, "I think that we have potential. I want that to be clear from the very beginning, but I think that we need to take it slow. I am going to have breakfast with Kazuhiro at the mansion and then I'll be back in the afternoon."

"At the mansion?" Ryou couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice when he asked her his question, she was running back to him after all.

"I'm not going to see Seto, Ryou. I am merely going to spend time with my son and clear my head. He helps me do that, you know."

Ryou grimaced at the implication and nodded, taking a long drink of coffee and felt his insides warm when he realized she had made it the way he used to drink it, "Do you want me to wait for you here?"

Her eyes snapped back up to his and she felt her heart beat quicken, "I think that would be okay. Why do ... do you have somewhere else to go?"

He leaned forward and reached for her hand, folding it into his own, "Reiko, I have no where I want to go. There is no one else out there for me. You are everything Rei. I'm here for you, and if you want me to wait, well, I'll wait."

The corners of Reiko's lips twitched in a small, hopeful smile. He was going to wait for her this time around. She gently squeezed his fingers and he released her.

"I have to go now, Kazuhiro is waiting for me."

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

As she pulled up to the Kaiba mansion Reiko noticed that her ex-husband's limo was stationed out in front of the house. A quick look at the radio clock in her car told her that it was much later than he usually stayed in - even on a Saturday. She inched the car forward up the long, curving driveway and parked. She had stepped out of her car just in time to see the man himself walk out of the house and into his limousine, her curiosity piqued when she noticed that he was glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He had been waiting for her to arrive.

Her suspicion was quickly forgotten when she saw her son waving at her from the doorway, he was wearing an apron that was covered in red and beige stains and she could only wonder what sort of trouble he and the cook that Seto had rehired were getting into.

"Chef Ito says that I'm the best helper he's ever had in the kitchen," her little boy exclaimed as she carried him into the large room. The chef chuckled and winked at the boy good-naturedly, nodding his head at Reiko.

"Chef Ito, it's so nice to see you back at the mansion full time," she said, bowing her head respectfully.

"It's wonderful to be back, Ms. Fujiyama, although I can't say that I didn't enjoy the vacation time you and your kitchen expertise afforded me - especially after all the cravings you had when you were expecting this little devil," the chef paused in his rice ball making to shoo Kazuhiro away from the strawberry preserves he was using to fill them, "Me and the Mrs. were finally able to take a vacation around the world and enjoy all the money Mr. Kaiba pays me."

Reiko smiled at the older man and pulled her son up to sit on the counter, plucking a banana out of the fruit bowl to keep him busy. The trio fell into amicable silence as Kazuhiro munched away and the chef finished up the breakfast spread. Reiko's thoughts drifted to the man eating breakfast in her apartment across town. In their apartment. The thought sent a shiver down her spine and she frowned. The night before had felt so normal, so natural. He was so right for her. They were so right for each other.

"Mommy, why are you so quiet? Daddy said that you were coming over because there was something in your apartment."

She frowned at her son, "What?"

The little boy blinked up at her with her own brown eyes, "Daddy said that there were ghosts in your apartment," and as though he had forgotten his fascination with ghosts up until that moment his eyes brightened as he added, "Mommy can I go see the ghosts?"

"Your daddy said that, did he?"

Kazuhiro nodded the affirmative as she helped the chef bring the dishes to the breakfast table, "Yeah, he was talking to Katsumi about it last night."

"Kazuhiro, were you spying on them?"

He grinned sheepishly and stuffed half a rice ball into his little mouth. Over the course of their breakfast Reiko was able to distance herself from the events of the night before and enjoy her son, whom, she realized, ate a whole lot more than she remembered him eating just a few short months ago. When he reached for his third pancake she raised a brow at him, "Are you really still hungry, honey?"

"I am so hungry, and the food is so yummy. I have seconds at dinner every night, too. Daddy says it's because I'm growing!"

She smiled at him as she helped him pour syrup over his pancake and returned to nursing her third cup of coffee.

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

After breakfast and a few long rounds of go-fish Reiko took her leave but was not quite ready to go home yet. As she drove through the town she thought about how little food she had at her apartment and how voraciously Ryou had started eating his bowl of oatmeal as she walked out the front door. She hadn't even had the time to consider how hungry he might be after a couple long days of travel and a night at a bachelor's motel. Weighing her options and wondering what was in her bank account at the moment Reiko pulled into a grocery store to pick up ingredients for lunch and dinner. Dinner. Would he be sleeping over again?

There was a great amount of anxiety running through her as she strolled through the isles picking out meat and potatoes for Ryou's favorite dish. She found herself practicing dialogue while comparing two different jars of pickles and couldn't help but laugh at herself. He had been back in her life for all of one day and already she was acting like the lovestruck teenager she had once been. Of course he'd like the dinner that she was going to make him, and, if last night was any indication, he still wanted her and would be willing to work things out.

She carried the groceries up the steps and fumbled to pull her keys out of her purse. She fussed with the lock for a moment before she felt the door open in front of her; no words could describe the feeling within her when Ryou lifted the bags out of her arms and kissed her on the cheek as though nothing had ever changed. As she followed him into the small kitchen she felt thirteen years disappear into thin air.

"What all have you got here, love?"

She stumbled over her words as he started pulling the packages out of the bags and placing them neatly on the counter, "I just picked up some things to fix us a late lunch and kinda early dinner."

"So I can stay for dinner?"

The hope in his voice and the sheen in his boyish eyes melted her heart, "Yes, of course - only if you want to, I mean."

He stopped fussing with the bags and turned to look at her, his fingers itching to reach out and pull her to him, he barely resisted and settled with reaching out to grab a hold of her hand. She gripped back as he rubbed his thumb up and down the back of her hand, enjoying the thrum of energy that emanated from his touch.

"I can't wait to know you again, Rei."

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

"Ryou, I think everything's ready. Did you set up the table?"

Reiko carefully measured out the meat and potato mixture over the freshly made rice, skillfully pouring the right amount of sauce into each bowl. She piled the plates onto a tray and almost collided with Ryou, "Oops."

He steadied her with a smile on his face, "No worries, I just need to get the glasses."

When Ryou stepped back into the living room he took his usual seat across the coffee table from Reiko and poured the plum wine in the glasses he had brought in. He set her glass next to her water glass and waited a beat before taking up his chopsticks and sampling his favorite meal, one that he had not had in years.

Reiko couldn't help but swell with pride as Ryou groaned appreciatively at his first bite. She chewed her own mouthful, glad to know that she was still able to pull of this recipe despite not having made it in years. Reiko felt a pang in her heart, the moment screamed Ryou and Reiko and normal. Taking a small sip of ice water she tried to ignore how adorable this adult Ryou was, how even though his hair was the wrong color he still retained all of the things that had drawn her in way back when she first noticed him, how he the stubble on his face was still grew in sparse patches that made him look distinguished. She tried to ignore how her heart was already his again so that she could get to the agenda of the evening.

"Ryou," she paused as he looked up at her, cheeks round because of how much food he'd shoved into his mouth (propriety when out the window when they began living together), "I want to talk about us."

He swallowed hard, taking a sip of wine, "Of course, Reiko. What did you have in mind?"

Something in his expression told her that he was all ears, it felt good to have him look at her so endearingly again. He was like a drug in her system as she stuttered out her first few words, "I, well, I ... Um, I think that I would like to be your girlfriend again."

Wow. She had not expected to let herself get to the point - that point - so quickly. His eyes lit up and she could tell that he was hiding a smile behind the water glass that he had lifted to his lips.

"Well," he said after a moment of watching her blush, "I think I'm ready to be your boyfriend, Rei."

"Good," she paused to swallow a small mouthful of dinner, "Now, there are just some rules that I think that we need to put in place," she wiped the corner of her mouth considering her statement. "I want to make sure that neither one of us ends up hurt this time around, and now there is the matter of my son to consider."

"That sounds fair to me, love."

Her lips twitched up into a smile as he slipped back into his terms of endearment, "Rule number one - we're going to take it slow this time around. Very slow. Yesterday - last night, specifically, was a one time thing. I'm not like that, you know. We need to get to know each other again before we go back to ... to that."

He reached out and stroked the back of her hand gently, "That sounds very reasonable to me, I know that we have both changed a lot in the past few years. I have no doubt that I'll love the person that you've become just as much - if not more - than I loved the person that you were."

"You can set a rule now, if you like."

Ryou grinned, "Okay, rule number two..." he paused to tap his chin. "Well, this is both a promise and a rule, we will talk things out in a timely fashion. No occulting secrets, feelings, desires. We are going to be upfront with one another. I know that's something that I couldn't do before."

Reiko raised her glass to him before sipping her wine, "Okay, I can agree to that rule." She watched the man before her - her man - continue to eat up his dinner, watched the way his Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed a bite. "I think that rule number three should be that we will always make every effort to make one another happy."

"Easy," he said, popping a pickle in his mouth. "I want you to know that I'm in this one hundred percent, Rei. There's no situation where I won't put your well being before my own, love. I owe you that much."

"Ryou, you don't owe me anything. I grew up a lot after all of that," her fingers traced the scar above her eye absently and she didn't notice his eyes follow her movement or the tightness that overtook them as he remembered why she had that scar.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Reiko Fujiyama. As a result, I believe that rule number four should be that we will always talk about big decisions together, no excluding one another. I think everything should be out in the open."

Reiko nodded as she chewed. Ryou grinned at her appreciatively. In the dim light of their old living room she looked young again, not that she looked very old now. She still had the beautiful head of brown hair, although he could see a small concentration of grey near her temples. She still smiled with her whole mouth, showing her straight white teeth with one canine sharper than the other. She still had the same complexion although her style of make-up had changed a bit. Most importantly to Ryou, she still retained her personality. He could see it thinly veiled behind the tough-girl facade, time may have gently altered her features but her best one had remained intact.

"Ryou?"

He blinked at her, his vision coming back into focus, "Yes?"

"You spaced out on me, I asked you a question," although she was pretending to be annoyed he could see the humor in her eyes.

"Sorry love, what did you ask me?"

"I asked if you would mind, in reference to rule number two, that I have a secret and, or desire I'd like to share with you?"

He quirked a nervous brow, his face paling as he worried what she could already want to call him out on, "Of course, what is it, Rei?"

"Well," and the smile on her face made him relax, "I was wondering if there was something that we could do about your hair."

"My hair?" He was struck with the most dumbfounded expression Reiko had ever seen and she couldn't contain a chortle.

"Yes, I think that you need to go back to your natural look, please?" She reached out to grab his hand, "I don't think that you're a blond, honey. It's all wrong. You need to keep your natural hair color if this relationship is going to work."

It was Ryou's turn to laugh, he started with anxious chuckles and then he broke out in full-on rib cramping laughter. It was like a balm on Reiko's wounds, on her soul. She joined him in laughter, feeling the darkness rush out of the room - suddenly they were Ryou and Reiko again.

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

It was just past noon on Monday and Ryou was standing in front of the building that Reiko worked in. This had been their lunch time tradition for two weeks now and it was getting easier to move about Domino City. He did not have to look over his shoulder any more. He had done some research and had found out that Marik Ishtar and his sister Ishizu had both left Domino City, taking their Egyptian exhibit with them and away from the Domino museum.

Yugi and his friends were still about town as he had realized one day when he had been driving around town to clear his head. He saw them all hanging out in front of the game shop. It had been late and they were saying good byes and, with luck he had not ever been known to possess, they did not recognize him or his car as he was stuck at the red light. It made him nervous that these people who knew him so well, knew what his other self had done, were still only a few streets away from him.

"Hi you."

Ryou's head snapped up as he heard Reiko's tired voice in front of him, "Hello there, love."

"What do you want to do for lunch today? I definitely don't feel like eating the sandwich I packed," she said smiling up at him.

"How about I take you to that ramen place down the street from here, the one that makes the gyoza that you like?"

She took his hand and walked with him as he led the way, her hand fitting into his just as well as it had on their last date on Saturday (Sundays were reserved for Reiko to spend with Kazuhiro and Ryou was trying to get his house in order). Monday was lunch-date day and they were both on edge all morning until they got to see one another and talk about nothing and everything over a bowl of noodles and warm cups of tea.

Their boots made squishing sounds on the slushy sidewalk, the snow had been persistent and Reiko found herself longing for the warmth of late spring and early summer. Fortunately, she found much of that warmth from the man standing to her left. He had started to let his hair grow out and his silver roots shone in the grey-blue light that filtered through the clouds.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Ryou's brown eyes flashed over to meet her doe-eyes, he could see how tired she was. The son of the CEO had gone on another womanizing rampage. That and the guy she had been about to date when he had come back into her life was pestering her about giving him a chance and he knew that Reiko felt bad for shooting him down. He couldn't possibly bog her down with his stupid thoughts about old friends and the secrets they knew.

And then he thought about the rules they'd agreed on.

"Oh, nothing much. Just thinking about the old days," he said. Not a lie, not the whole truth. He still felt guilty.

"What about them?"

They walked into the warm air of the ramen shop and she hung her coat over the chair at the table that they usually sat at. She looked down at the laminated menu, but he could see her watching him through her mascara-black eyelashes.

"Oh, just that there are so many things that I ... that," he paused, unable to say it out loud. Unwilling to sound so crazy.

She looked up and smiled at him, "Ryou, I know that you're not like that. I don't believe that it was you, I never have, and I don't believe that they think it was you either. And," she paused as she gripped his hand in between both of hers, "I think that you don't really have to worry about it because you don't owe them anything. It was a long time ago and it's over."

He stared at her dumbfounded. How could she be so forgiving? He could feel the calm resonating from her, the tiredness was banished from her features and she looked so sincere that he wanted to forget about lunch and hold her. He wanted to love her.

But the final rule held him back. Rule number five: no sleeping together again until we have been together for at least three months.

The waitress came and took their order and they talked casually about jobs that Ryou had been looking into. He had quite a bit put away from when he had left his last job and so he was okay living off of that for the time being.

On their walk back Ryou apologized to Reiko for his dark mood earlier and she told him that everyone had their demons, some were just more vivid than others.

"I'll see you tomorrow night?"

She nodded at him, "What time should I be there? What should I bring?"

He kissed her nose, his lips lingering, "I already told you, there's nothing that you need to bring. I'm making you dinner tomorrow because you deserve a night off."

"Very well then," she whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder.

They embraced for longer than was normal for public behavior. He held her tighter than appropriate for a couple without an intimate relationship. She held back just as tightly.

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

Reiko sat cross-legged on the sofa in Ryou's living room pretending to watch TV, it was Saturday and their offical month-and-a-half anniversary. He had gone out to pick up take-out (he told her not to worry about picking it up on her way over). She had let herself in with the key that he had given her after their first week back together, saying that she either took his key or that he was going to return the key to the apartment to her. The thought of that had sent her into an anxious state and she had quickly accepted his key.

He had been gone for a while and she knew he'd be back soon but she was restless and so she cleaned up the stack of magazines and newspapers that were on one of the side tables in the living room. And then she saw it. She saw all of them.

They were magazines about her divorce.

Her blood ran cold as she leafed through, noticing that the pages had been marked. She recognized the way that the pages had been folded over - not carelessly but perfectly symmetrical. Going through the stack a bit more frantically Reiko heard a page flutter and fall to the floor. Her entire body tensed when she recognized the stationary.

-_-Here's your chance. Enclosed are all the tickets you'll need to make it back. She could use the closure.-_-

"Seto-fucking-Kaiba," she snarled, quite uncharacteristically.

She heard a car door shut and she started, shuffling the papers back together. She hurried back to the couch, pretending to watch the tv again as she tried to calm down. He wasn't going to ruin this for her. Nothing was going to ruin this.

When Ryou opened the front door she hurried over to him, kissing him sweetly and helping him set up the living room coffee table. She carefully, robotically, set up the containers as Ryou popped the blu-ray disk into the player that he had purchased the other day. Seto was going to pay for doing this to her, but tonight was about her and about Ryou.

She'd deal with the CEO later.

x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x

Lots of mushy-mush in this chapter, but I think it's necessary and super cute. There will be some angst/anger in the next chapter but I also predict some cuteness ... What can I say, I need a little bit of a happy ending! Just a few more loose ends to tie up and then maybe I can let this story rest ^_^

Thanks to CraftyLion, as always, for standing by me and being my most faithful friend and reviewer! A thanks to all my silent readers out there - thanks for clicking on my story! I love you all so dearly, really.

xx

Red


	7. Chapter 7

_You know some real bad tricks_

_And you need some discipline_

_But, lately you've been trying real hard_

_And giving me your best_

_And, you give me the most gorgeous sleep_

_That I've ever had_

_And when it's really bad_

_I guess it's not that bad_

_You're really lovely_

_Underneath it all_

_You want to love me_

_Underneath it all_

_I'm really lucky_

_Underneath it all_

_You're really lovely_

_So many moons that we have seen_

_Stumbling back next to me_

_I've seen right through and underneath_

_And you make me better_

_I've seen right through and underneath_

_And you make me better_

_Better... better..._

Underneath It All - No Doubt

* * *

**Same night as last chapter**

* * *

"Why did you come back?"

Ryou looked at her blankly, her fingers pulled back out of his hair as his lips paused at her throat. She pulled away from him, sitting back up and folding her hands in her lap. The question hung in the air, nasty and cruel.

"I came back here for you, Rei."

Her face was skeptical. There was something accusatory in her glance. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed; it seemed as though she knew more than she was letting on. He took a deep breath and waited for her response feeling his palms begin to sweat.

"I mean what exactly made you come back here? Why did you choose the time you did?" Her questions were coming out on rapid fire, she couldn't stop herself. The idea had been looming in her mind the entire time that they had spent together on what was supposed to be a romantic evening. What business did Seto have sending Ryou magazines about their divorce?

"I feel like there's something you want me to say, but I'm not sure I know what," Ryou's words were not entirely true but he was not ready to lay down his hand either. His throat was dry and he could feel the blood speeding through his veins as his heart beat faster.

Reiko stood up fully, snatching a magazine from the coffee table and tossing it at him, "This is what I want you to tell me about."

He stared down at the glossy cover, a picture of Reiko and Seto in a broken heart graphic, "Are you going to tell me how you got a hold of a Japanese magazine if you were in the middle of a jungle in South America?"

"Reiko why are we even arguing about this? Does it matter how I got here or that I'm here?"

She was too busy working herself up over the fact that her ex-husband and the love of her life were keeping things from her and otherwise playing with her life to notice the anxiety that had darkened Ryou's gaze. His hands were trembling where he kept them in his lap and his neck was turning red.

"Ryou, I need to know why you came back."

It was his turn to stand, his voice trembling, "Fine. You want to know the truth? Fine."

Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back, angry but sensible enough to finally see the rage that had seized the usually gentle man. Something in her still made her provoke him, "So?"

"Your Seto Kaiba sent me these," he made a wide gesture with his hands to signify the stack of magazines, "He said you needed closure." He took a pause to capture his breath and scrub his face. "He was baiting me. Obviously. He's never been very fond of him and I can honestly say that I'm not all that fond of him."

"I don't see what this has to do with me. I don't understand why he would track you down and bring you here."

Ryou smiled bitterly, his voice steadier this time around, "Well fuck Rei, if you don't know then I don't. I can tell you one thing, though, and that's that he never lost track of me."

"So did you only come back because he sent these to you?"

She had purposely ignored the other part of their conversation, partly because she was scared to make him angrier and partly because she knew she needed to get those answers from someone else.

"Reiko I came back because I was tired of running away. I have been running for too long now. It's become second nature; I needed to see you and, thanks to Kaiba, I found out that you were free again," his voice was steady as he let it all out. "If there is anyone in this entire world I have ever felt a connection with it's been you, Reiko."

He took a few steps forward, backing her into a corner.

"I don't think that you run away from things," she murmured, her eyes downcast.

"You're lying. Even I can accept it. That's what you learn when all you know is how to hurt people. You keep moving so that you never have to face them again," he paused to grip her shoulders, "I've tried everything. Every treatment possible to get these thoughts out of my head, to get rid of these feelings of guilt inside me. I thought it had worked, but now that I'm back here ... everything is rushing back to me. It's like dying in slow motion, but I'm too afraid to die."

His hands were now painfully gripped at her shoulders and she could feel the heat of the bruises forming. Her mind was spinning, treatments? For what? Her eyes searched his face in the dim light of the living room and she saw how dark the circles under his eyes had become. Her heart was beating triple time - he was too afraid to die?

She tried to say something intelligent, but all she could think about was the pain in her arms, "You're hurting me."

He pulled back, his face darkening as he watched her face contort in thought.

"What do you need treatment for?"

His head shot up and she jumped back a bit in surprise, her body bumping into the wall. "What do I need treatment for?" Ryou's laugh was bitter, "I've been morbidly depressed for years - ever since my mother and my sister died, ever since I was haunted by that spirit, ever since he tried to kill you, Reiko."

"What?" Her fingers trembled as she pushed herself flush against the wall, her body trembling.

His clammy fingers reached out to push her bangs back and brushed the scar above her brow. The scar she had gotten the night of their high school dance when she had been in the terrible car accident.

Reiko almost fell over in surprise when Ryou collapsed in front of her, his body trembling with inaudible sobs. His hands reached out to grip her legs as though to keep her from running away from him. It took her a few moments to free herself from his grip and help him up from the floor and back over to the couch. His sobs had changed from weeping to strained gasps.

"Hey, hey, calm down Ryou it's okay. This doesn't change anything - take a deep breath!"

His eyes were wide and he gulped for air like he had been held underwater, "My pills - I, I ..."

She brushed the hair out of his eyes, "Yes, what pills? Can you tell me where they are?"

"My bathroom," he paused to wheeze, "Upstairs."

Reiko rushed up the stairs and searched through the cabinets, knocking over several prescription bottles until she found one for anxiety. She paused a moment to scan the labels of the other bottles before rushing back downstairs, half tripping on the last few steps until she reached him. His breaths were coming quicker and he looked like he was about to faint.

After he took his medicine she helped him up the stairs to his bedroom where he fell asleep straightaway. Reiko couldn't sleep that night. Her entire being had been shaken by the revelations. She couldn't fathom why she never suspected Ryou might have some sort of medical repercussions as a result of all the trauma he had faced in his life.

Her fingers trailed over the small scars on his chest from the Millennium Ring, the scar on his arm that was the result of some sort of stab wound, and finally she touched her own scar on her forehead. Reiko looked at him in the dim light from his bedside lamp, he looked so worn and tired. His hair was mostly white again and his eyelashes still brushed the tops of his cheekbones, but she could see the frown lines around his mouth and creases in his forehead. She was sick and tired of having other people decide things for her. Neither Ryou nor Seto was going to tell her what to do with her life. She wasn't about to let Ryou run away again and she certainly wasn't going to allow Seto to keep messing with her life.

* * *

Seto Kaiba could feel something change in the air as soon as he heard the elevator ding on his floor. A quick glance at his clock told him that it was simply too early to be any of his clients and it could, in no way, be Mokuba who had made it clear that he would simply not make himself available before ten in the morning. So when Reiko Fujiyama walked through the double doors of his office - undeterred by the early hour - he could not necessarily say he was surprised.

"I should really restrict your access to my floor," he deadpanned as he looked up in time to see her frown. His sharp blue eyes honing in on the fact that she had pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail in a way that suggested she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Her jeans were far too casual for her aggressive stance and the way her fingers gripped her coffee cup suggested that she was using it to keep her grip while she formulated her thoughts.

"I don't think that would keep me from coming to see you, Seto."

Her voice was direct and to the point and it sent him into businessman mode in a flash, whatever good humor he had been hinting at dissipating.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She shuffled into the chair opposite his and took a long sip from her coffee cup before speaking, "I'm here to tell you, for the very last time, to stay the hell out of my personal life."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Reiko," he was bluffing, but he couldn't think that Bakura would be stupid enough to tell Reiko that he had come back because Seto had sent him a care package. He also didn't think that it would bother her all that much.

"If Ryou and I are going to work, I don't want to know that it's because you're back here pulling strings. I would have liked for him to come back of his own accord. I would have liked for whatever time he spent away from here to be a healing experience, not one where my husband of the time was continually stalking him. I would have liked to think that you and I could be friends after the divorce without all of these ridiculous complications. Were you so jealous of him that you had to keep tabs on his whereabouts?"

Seto pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Oh Reiko, do you really think that he would have come back here of his own free will? This is precisely what I wanted you to see. He's not worth it. He wasn't worth it when I found you falling apart over being abandoned by him all those year ago and he's not worth it now. He's not what you need. What happened to that coworker of yours?"

There was hardly a moment of hesitation as Reiko threw her empty coffee cup at her ex's face. Her mouth hung open in shock and disgust. The displeased look on her face did little to appease her as she finally stuttered out her the question she already knew the answer to, "You were behind Jun, too?"

"What's the matter with me wanting you to be with someone normal? He has a wonderful résumé, no health issues ..."

"You think it's okay to play god with my life? Is this your demented way of thinking that you're taking care of me?" Reiko stared at him in disbelief, "I need you to get one thing through your head: I don't need to be taken care of. I can _do_ just fine on my own - I _have_ done just fine on my own." She stood to leave, no longer able to stomach the idea of sharing the same air with Seto Kaiba.

"Fine, I won't interfere. Just don't come crying to me when he breaks your heart again."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

Reiko smiled at him from over the newspaper she was reading, "Of course I am, silly."

"Won't he be upset?"

"Who cares? He didn't respect my wishes when he was in this position, so why should I respect his? And besides," she paused as she folded her paper neatly, "Kazuhiro has been dying to meet you."

Ryou blushed at the thought. Meeting her son was a huge step. She had been talking about it nonstop since they had gotten over the hiccup in their relationship two weeks prior. He had seen her son in pictures, heard his voice when she called him to say goodnight, and obviously had seen him on television from time to time when his father's bodyguards didn't do their job. But seeing him in person, actually meeting him, made everything seem too real. Reiko had a son. With another man. With Seto Kaiba.

"I haven't see you so pale in years, Ryou."

He blinked out of his stupor to see Reiko smiling down at him, "I, um, I'm sorry love. Just a bit nervous."

"Did you -"

He stood from his seat and silenced her with an embrace, "Yes, no worries." Having her know about his metal illnesses was one thing, hearing her talk about it was another. He tried not to show it, but it unnerved him to think that she might treat him differently as a result.

"Sorry," she whispered her apology into his now fully silver-white hair, and then, louder, "Ready to go?"

* * *

The parking lot at the zoo was absolutely filled with people despite the chilly weather and Reiko smiled at Kazuhiro in the rearview mirror. Ryou was sitting in the passenger seat fiddling with the buttons on his coat and Kazuhiro was peering at him with curiosity every time he thought his mother wasn't looking.

All he knew was that his mother had introduced this man as her friend. When his father introduced Katsumi as a friend she ended up living with him. Was this man going to be living with his mom?

As they finally pulled into their parking space Kazuhiro hurried to unbuckle his belt as his mom and Ryou got out of the car. He looked up in time, however, to see his mom kiss Ryou on the lips.

Right as his mother opened the door Kazuhiro fired off his question, "Is he your boyfriend?"

Reiko blinked at the little boy in her arms. Her brain registered that he looked uncomfortable as a result of her holding him at arms-length by his underarms but the question caught her off guard.

His brown eyes peered at Ryou over his mom's shoulder and he half-smiled, the serious Seto Kaiba look dissipating, "It's okay."

After breaking though her shock Reiko pulled her little boy into an embrace, his simple words taking a huge weight off of her shoulders. She put her keys in her pocket before turning around to face Ryou, who was still busy fiddling with his jacket behind her.

"Kazuhiro, baby, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Ryou Bakura."

The boys stared at one another for a long moment, Kazuhiro's face shrouded in scrutiny and Ryou's face pale with anxiety. After another awkward beat Ryou put his hand out to shake Kazuhiro's hand - or something along those lines - but Kazuhiro shocked him by reaching out with both arms.

Reiko watched Ryou's face change to wonder as the little boy embraced him with all his might and she couldn't help the tears that pooled in her eyes. Her heart both swelled with pride at her child's acceptance and kindness but it throbbed with a sad bitterness that came from the knowledge that this could have been Ryou's son.

* * *

Reiko smiled at the sight of the two boys sitting on the bench in front of the polar bear enclosure. She had stepped away to use the ladies' room and Kazuhiro had stayed with Ryou voluntarily saying that girls' bathrooms had cooties. As she walked up behind them she heard Kazuhiro ask what sort of cards Ryou used in his deck and if he had ever been in a tournament with his daddy.

She felt her heart freeze up as she saw Ryou tense. She had been about ready to interrupt when she saw Ryou set his shoulders and turn to the little boy saying that he had in fact participated in tournaments with his father and that he would show him his deck the next time he saw him.

"That sounds like a good plan - I'll bring my deck!"

"What's all this about dueling?" Reiko asked innocently as she sat down next to her son.

Ryou smiled over at her, "Just some friendly competition between me and my mate Kazuhiro," he paused to wink at said boy, "We're planning on having a duel, although I am pretty rusty so I don't know what I'm getting myself into."

Kazuhiro laughed and puffed out his chest, "I'm not rusty - I'm the bestest duelist and I will defeat you! I beat uncle Mokuba all the time."

Reiko smoothed down his hair as she asked, "What does the winner of this duel win as his prize?"

"Well, I was thinking the winner could choose dinner."

"I think that I'll pick an ice cream shop," Kazuhiro said seriously, tapping his chin.

By the end of their evening Kazuhiro was completely tuckered out. He was asleep in the backseat as Reiko steered the car into the Kaiba Mansion driveway. She had called Mokuba when they were a few minutes away and he came out to meet her when she pulled into the roundabout.

"Hey," he said as he came up behind her to grab his nephew out of the carseat, "How was the zoo?"

"A lot of fun, Kazuhiro and Ryou really hit it off."

Mokuba paused for a moment, half pretending to search the car for Kazuhiro's belongings and half avoiding Bakura's stare, "That's wonderful, I'm sure he'll tell me all about it in the morning."

When he caught the pained look in Reiko's eyes he decided to be polite and poked his head back into the car, "Nice to see you again, Bakura."

He had started to make his way back up to the steps when Reiko called out to him, "Oh, wait! You're forgetting Jonathan, his elephant."

Mokuba reached out for the overstuffed elephant plush toy, "Jonathan?"

"Jon, for short," Reiko joked as she climbed back into the car. She waited until Mokuba had taken Kazuhiro inside before putting the car in drive and heading home.

* * *

There you have it. I'm sorry if it's been super confusing as to what exactly Kaiba did. Mostly it's that he's interfering with lives that don't belong to him. All the angst was making it really hard for me to write this chapter - particularly since I had tons of midterms and papers to deal with in the real world. I hope you all enjoy what came of it.

This chapter is dedicated to CraftyLion because she is so super kind about reviewing my story even when I'm pitiful when it comes to writing reviews for her wonderful, wonderful stories :/ You're the best Crafty!

I hope you all enjoyed the meeting between Ryou and Kazuhiro. I wanted something sweet and lighthearted. Also, bonus points if you recognized Jonathan ;)

xx

Red

Ps. There are TWO chapters and an EPILOGUE left ^_~


	8. Chapter 8

_Call me over_

_Tell me how you got so far_

_Never making a single sound_

_I'm not used to it, but I can learn_

_Nothing to it_

_I've never been happier_

_I've never been happier_

_No one is as lucky as us_

_We're not at the end but, oh we already won_

_No one is as lucky as us_

_Is as lucky as us_

Paramore - Where the Lines Overlap

* * *

Seto Kaiba watched as his son jumped out of the car, half slipping on the slushy ice of late winter before Reiko reached out and steadied him. As much as he knew that she had a right to take him out during the day, especially since it afforded him some time alone with Katsumi (which, thankfully, stopped her whining), she was bringing him back later and later. Not to mention the fact that he still wasn't very fond of the idea of her dating Bakura again.

He had been very clear with her the next time he had seen her alone that, while he promised not to interfere any longer, he would have preferred she ended up dating anyone else. And he meant anyone. She had, of course, promptly told him where he could shove his opinion.

He had to admit that he had never seen her so feisty. It actually became her and he had found himself respecting her more and more in the past few weeks.

Reiko walked Kazuhiro to the door while Ryou waited in the car. Every time that they dropped him off she tried to convince him to come to the door with them and each and every time he politely refused. Kazuhiro wondered if Ryou was scared of his daddy, but when he had asked his mother had laughed and told him to stop being so silly.

She had barely stepped into the foyer when Seto started speaking, "You really should bring him back before his bedtime."

"I am bringing him back before his bedtime," she replied, back straightening.

"I simply mean that you should bring him back earlier so that he has enough time to settle down before bed. He's supposed to be reviewing his flashcards before bed."

"Oh Seto, I don't think that he's losing any of his sharpness. Are you, honey?"

The little boy looked up at his parents from where he was seated on the floor tugging his snow shoes off, "Nope! Today mommy and Ryou gave me a spelling test and I got all the words right."

She met the deep blue eyes of her ex-husband with a smile on her face, "See?"

"Well I must be mistaken. I would still like him to keep more regular hours, Reiko."

There was a small sigh before she recovered herself, "Well maybe that won't be a problem much longer," she said as she reached down to kiss Kazuhiro's head in goodbye.

* * *

"Are you sure that you want to stay here tonight? Your place is so much better," she whispered into Ryou's neck as he gave her a piggy-back ride up the stairs of her complex.

"Well, first off, yes, I'm sure." He set her down in front of the door, "And secondly, I would sleep in the car with you if that's what it came to."

"It is a pretty nice car," she laughed as she followed him into the tiny living space.

He walked in ahead of her as she went into the tiny kitchen to make some tea. She had just finished filling the kettle when she heard a stern, "Reiko Fujiyama," come from the living room.

"Yes?" She called back as she continued to heat the stove.

Ryou sat himself on a barstool and shot her a stern look, "Have you been sleeping on the couch again?"

She looked down meekly, "Yeah."

"Rei, is it that bad?"

"I can't sleep in there without you. Even with you there ..." she cut herself off, her eyes glazing over at the memory. She could feel his eyes on her, could feel the shame and guilt radiating from his seated position at the bar.

"I think," he paused a moment and she heard him shuffle around into the kitchen. "I think it's time, hey," he stopped again to connect his gaze with hers, his warm fingers curled around her chin, "Look at me, love, I think it's time we let go of this place. In all my running these past few years I've learned something."

"And what's that?"

"I learned that running from your problems and actually taking care of them are two different things. I've learned that running away does not equate letting go. You had your rules and now I'm going to add an amendment: we can't be together in a healthy way unless we get rid of this," he waved his hand about, "All of this. We need to start fresh in every sense."

Her lips were curling up at the corners now, but she had to hear him say it, "What are you suggesting Ryou?"

"I think it's high time that we left this apartment for good. Left my house for good. Let the bad memories fade away like what they are - memories. We're not going to let ourselves live like ghosts," he gripped her hands tightly in his, "Reiko, will you move in with me?"

* * *

The worst of winter was far behind them and the days were getting longer and warmer with each rotation of the Earth. Reiko was happy that she no longer had to wear huge coats over her long sleeves and cardigans. Reiko was even happier that she and Ryou had been house hunting for about a month and half now.

The couple had begun their search a few days after Ryou had asked her to move in with him. There had been a moment of bittersweet nostalgia, but it was trumped by the fact that this time around everything was different in the best ways possible. Ryou had received permission from his father to set the house for sale and Reiko had also listed the apartment. Now the that house had actually been sold the rush was on to find a new place.

"This townhouse has hardwood floors throughout the main floor," the real estate agent, Cho, beamed as she pointed out the polished wood.

"That's really nice," Ryou commented as he and Reiko moved around the space.

"There is also a powder room for guests right here under the stairs," she continued as they peered in before moving further down the hall to the kitchen.

"Well that will be very convenient," Reiko added as she surveyed the home. The room was open-concept, strange for Japan, but very well done. The front door opened to the living room and just to the right of that was the dining room table. The stairs were directly in-line with the front door and helped accentuate the divide. The kitchen was to the right of the stairs and in-line with the living room.

"How many bedrooms did you say this home had?" Reiko asked, noticing how narrow the second floor seemed to be (which seemed to be a pattern in all the townhouses they had seen).

"There are actually two bedrooms on this second floor, the third floor has a master suite and a small rooftop patio."

The bedrooms on the second floor were not as big as the ones in Ryou's house, but they were much larger than what the old apartment had. There was one bathroom on the second floor to be shared.

"I think Kazuhiro would like this, Rei," Ryou said from the doorway of one of the two rooms, "Look at this paint job."

Reiko raised a skeptical brow, but as soon as she laid eyes on the room she knew he was right. The room was painted navy blue with a Duel Monsters themed wallpaper trim that seemed to feature dragons in particular.

"Do you two have a son?" Cho asked from behind them, beaming (something she could not seem to stop doing).

"Oh, uh," Reiko began, stumbling over how to explain.

"Yes, yes we do," Ryou said, squeezing Reiko's hand, "He's five and he is absolutely crazy about Duel Monsters."

"Well that's perfect! Now that I know I should point out that this neighborhood is within walking distance of a very, very nice park."

Reiko stood a little dumbstruck at the bottom of the second floor stairs, robotically watching Cho and Ryou walk up the steps to the third and final floor with a grin on her face the size of Texas.

"Hey, are you coming up, love?"

She blinked up at Ryou through traces of tears in her brown eyes, "Yeah, yeah, just spaced out for a minute."

The master bedroom was lovely. The room was a very reasonable size and the on-suite master bath had amenities that Reiko had not enjoyed since her time with Seto. Ryou's favorite part was the sitting area outside of the bedroom that had built-in bookshelves and a sliding glass door that opened up to a nicely kept rooftop area.

"So, what do you two think?" Cho asked as they headed back down the stairs.

Ryou and Reiko looked at one another, both feeling silly because of the seemingly simple way that everything had come together for them. This was the sort of stuff that was not supposed to happen in real life, let alone twice.

"Draw up the paperwork," Reiko said through her bright smile and Ryou's tight embrace.

* * *

"Mom, are we really going to have this argument today?"

Mrs. Fujiyama frowned at her daughter as she put another box into her car, "Well, I don't hear from you for weeks and all of the sudden you spring it on me that Mr. Disappearing Act is back in your life and that you're _moving in together_ **again**."

Reiko hoisted another box up off the driveway and into the car, "I really don't know why you hate him so much, mom. He's not so terrible and he's grown up so, so much."

"You're making excuses again, Reiko. Why aren't you two getting married if he's changed "so, so much"? I think you're making a mistake and I don't appreciate you dragging Kazuhiro into this, what does Seto think?"

Reiko bit her lip, her eyes watering over at her mother's criticism. Before she could reply she heard a box being set down and heard her father sigh at the sight of them.

"Oh come on honey, you're mom is just worried about you," Mr. Fujiyama paused to squeeze Reiko's shoulder, "Are you one hundred percent sure about this, though?"

"Of course I'm sure. You two don't know everything that's going on -"

"Well that's because you keep us at a distance, Rei," her mother cut her off, stepping forward.

"No, that's not why. It's because if I told you then I'd have to deal with all of your sympathetic looks and judgmental comments," she paused to swipe at the tears spilling out of her eyes with her shirt sleeve, "I am making the right choice. Ryou was always the right choice."

Just at that moment Ryou pulled up in his car, now empty of the boxes he had taken over to their new home. Her mother huffed and went into the house saying she needed to drink some water.

"You're mom's just upset, Reiko," he father coughed into his hand, "Well, we both are. We don't want him to hurt you again."

Reiko watched Ryou hoist a box into the trunk of his car, his forehead moist with sweat thanks to the humidity that had set in seemingly overnight, "He won't."

* * *

"I think we're going to need more furniture," Ryou laughed as they sat down on the couch, their feet resting on boxes full of kitchenware.

"Oh, I don't know. I think this works just fine," Reiko laughed around a mouth full of instant noodles.

"You're right," he said as he slurped up noodles of his own, "This _does_ lend the place a certain amount of charm."

They had unpacked all of their belongings into the upstairs and all that was left were Ryou's books and random keepsakes that Reiko had taken out of her storage unit. Their dinners had consisted largely of take-out and instant noodles thanks, in part, to the fact that Ryou had gotten a job as an adjunct professor at the local community college. He had been given a class at seven in the morning and one at six at night three times a week and that had thrown off their unpacking schedule.

"Are you sure that everything will be ready by the time we pick Kazuhiro up tomorrow morning?"

Ryou looked at his girlfriend, her brown eyes concerned as she surveyed the many half-full boxes that still populated the living room and dining room area. He set his noodles down on a on the floor and squeezed her hand, "I think that it's going to be perfect by the time we pick him up, it's only Tuesday, love."

"You're right, well, I guess I'd better keep going," she said, getting up to toss her cup into the trash.

The next few hours passed quickly as Reiko unpacked books, dishes, and kitchen appliances. She was so focused on putting everything in its place that she barely noticed the Ryou had disappeared. When she finally did notice that she was the only one working on breaking up the empty music boxes she decided to go upstairs.

Checking the time on her phone she realized that it was almost three in the morning. As she neared the stop of the final set of stairs she half expected to find him asleep. So when she saw a flicker of light on the patio she was a bit taken off guard.

She hurried into the bedroom to grab a coat and some shoes before stepping out into the cool night air. "What are you doing out here?"

"It's about time you came looking for me," Ryou chuckled good-naturedly as he stepped aside so that she could stand beside him. He was busy building a fire pit in a pit that she did not know they had.

"What's all this?" She stretched her arms out and warmed her fingers over the flames, "We haven't been around a fire together for a long time."

Ryou wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her into him, planting a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I have a surprise for you. Something we need to do before we can really say that we're done unpacking."

"Okay, are you gonna stop being so cryptic now?"

"Fine, fine." He leaned down and picked up one of three boxes that she had failed to notice. She watched as he pulled out an envelope and handed it to her, "It's time to get rid of these."

"The letters?" Her voice sounded funny because she felt her throat constricting at the thought of burning them. "Right now?"

He grinned at her and the firelight shining in his eyes and hair made him look supernatural. Beautiful.

She watched as he took a few envelopes and tossed them into the pit. The paper crumpled and turned to ash right before her eyes. He saw her cringing and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Okay," she whispered and with a flick of her wrist she released the letter and felt a rush as the same thing happened as before. The paper slowly went up in flames and she felt as though its weight was being lifted off her shoulders.

One by one they destroyed the letters, waiting until the flames died down before they went inside. The sun was rising and they only had a few hours before Reiko was supposed to pick up Kazuhiro. Neither Ryou nor Reiko let that stop them from enjoying one another.

It was Reiko's favorite part about them. When they came together it was as though nothing had changed. It was like they were teens again, but _better_. Now there was nothing standing in their way.

* * *

I hope that you all enjoyed. We're getting really, really close to the end. Thanks to my most loyal reader/reviewer/FF friend CraftyLion!

Until next time ...

Xx  
Red


	9. Chapter 9

_The day we met,_

_Frozen I held my breath_

_Right from the start_

_I knew that I'd found a home for my heart..._

_...beats fast_

_Colors and promises_

_How to be brave?_

_How can I love when I'm afraid to fall_

_But watching you stand alone?_

_All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow_

_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_Time stands still_

_Beauty in all she is_

_I will be brave_

_I will not let anything take away_

_What's standing in front of me_

_Every breath_

_Every hour has come to this_

_One step closer_

A Thousand Years (Part 2) – Christina Perri feat. Steve Kazee

* * *

It was late on a Friday afternoon and Reiko was on her way to pick up Kazuhiro for his first week-long sleepover. She was tired from a long week and a slight case of the flu, but she was eager and even the traffic was not as irritating as it normally would have been. She was taking a week off of PR duty in order to enjoy a break with Ryou and Kazuhiro. Ryou had called after his office hours were over to tell her that he was going to pick up something special for the three of them to have for dinner.

Another car cut her off and she slammed on the brakes, feeling the bile rise up in her throat. She hadn't been able to keep much down since late Wednesday afternoon when she and Ryou had eaten their traditional udon. She had been surviving on broth and toast and she was _starving_. The light changed and she made it through the light and onto the small street that would lead her that much closer to the Kaiba mansion.

By the time that she arrived, Mokuba was carrying Kazuhiro's bags down the front steps of the mansion as the little boy scurried around cheering about spring break. One of the Kaiba Mansion maids was holding an umbrella over each of their heads, her own tawny brown hair soaked.

"So, so sorry I'm late! Thanks for waiting to leave, Mokuba." Her ex-brother-in-law looked up and grinned at her, tossing the luggage into the trunk that she had just popped open.

"It wasn't so bad, Kaz here made the time go by quickly." He paused to take the umbrella from the maid who smiled at him gratefully and scurried back into the house. "This kid decided to use the extra time to cram more cra-_junk_ into the suitcases that he had already packed."

The little boy grinned from where he stood, holding an overstuffed plush blue-eyes. "I wanted to make sure that I didn't forget anything 'mportant."

Reiko picked him up with a slight huff. He was heavier than she remembered him being just two days earlier. "You're getting too big for mama to be carrying you, mister." The little boy cuddled closer to his mother, grumbling something into her neck.

* * *

Ryou was busy setting everything out, making sure that it was all perfect before Reiko and Kazuhiro got home. He had left the college early because he could not bring himself to focus. His students' papers did not hold any of his attention and he realized he was not doing them any justice if he continued to grade papers and advise his students in the same half-assed manner he'd been doing all week. There was something on his mind and, if all went well, he'd spend the next week enjoying a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders.

He heard laughter and splashing coming up the steps and he hurried over to the door, pulling it open just in time to see Rei holding Kazuhiro in one arm and tugging one huge piece of rolling luggage behind her. "Let me get that, love. How's your cold? Any better?"

She smiled at him and set Kazuhiro down inside, telling him to take his shoes and coat off before he decided to run around. "I've been better, but I think this week off is exactly what I need."

He grinned at his girlfriend and kissed her temple. He felt her curl her fingers into his own and felt the cool metal of a car key, "There are two more bags in the car."

Ryou could not help but chuckle at the teasing look in her eyes as she pulled her rain boots off and made her way upstairs. He made his way out into the cool spring evening, the sun was barely visible over the downtown buildings, but there was still a decent amount of light filtering through the grey clouds. He walked at a leisurely pace, stepping over puddles as he got closer to the car.

Kazuhiro was busy setting up his toys (the majority of the contents in the luggage his mother had just carried in). Reiko could hear him as she headed down the stairs, freshly changed into sweatpants and a fitted long-sleeve thermal. "Kazuhiro, honey, we can do that later. Ryou has dinner ready downstairs."

"Actually, Rei, I was hoping you could finish setting it up." Ryou said as he came up the stairs, two heavy bags at his sides. "I need to Kaz something." Ryou winked at her and Reiko raised a suspicious brow, but conceded and went downstairs.

"Thanks for bringing my bags up, Ryou." Kazuhiro said, not looking up from where he was busily arranging a group of action figures into "good guys" and "bad guys."

"No problem, my boy." Ryou replied, setting the bags down by the door and crossing the room to sit on the boy's bed. "I did want to talk to you about something important really quick, though."

Kazuhiro, ever intelligent for his age, set his toys aside and turned to face his mother's boyfriend. "What's that?"

"Well," Ryou started. "Um, you see, I-I love your mother very much."

Kazuhiro nodded, his big brown eyes focused on the white-haired man in front of him.

"I love her so much and I'm so very happy that we are living her together." He paused again, his palms growing sweaty. "I'm very happy that you get to come here, too."

"That makes me happy!" Kazuhiro interjected, barely noticing how truly flustered and _pink_ Ryou was getting during his little speech.

"I'm glad it does, mate." Ryou said, sliding off the bed to sit directly in front of the little boy on the floor. "And since you are the most important man in your mother's life, I wanted to ask you if it were okay if … Well, if it's okay if I ask you mommy to marry me?"

Ryou watched as the five year-old's mouth dropped, his eyes going adorably wide. If anyone had been watching it would have seemed that Ryou had just told him that every fiction and fairytale was absolutely real.

"Seriously?"

The jovial look in Ryou's eyes disappeared for a moment, apprehension rising in his throat at the boy's question. "Yes. If it's all okay with you …"

"You would be my daddy, then?"

"Well, kind of. I would be your step-father – like an extra daddy." Ryou said as Kazuhiro listened intently and nodded seriously.

"I think that's a great idea." Kazuhiro said after a few long minutes.

Ryou wanted to leap for joy as the little boy smiled up at him, his brown eyes almost matching the excitement in the older man's eyes. "Well, here's the ring I want to give her. Is it okay if I do it tonight? Right now?"

Kazuhiro pulled the tiny box out of Ryou's hands to inspect the shiny piece of jewelry. The white-gold ring had one sizable diamond in the center with several small diamonds circling it. There were two smaller circles on either side of the larger, center one and they were filled with small diamonds as well.

"It's so pretty!" He exclaimed, finally. "Come on, Ryou, you have to do this right now!"

Ryou stared at the little boy, a bit in shock at his sudden burst of enthusiasm. "Uh, just a moment Kaz, I –"

At that moment Reiko called to them from downstairs and Kazuhiro hastily replied that they were on their way down.

Ryou felt himself be pulled down the stairs by the surprisingly strong little guy. He felt like he was having an out-of-body experience, his hand was tightly clenched around the ring box as he tried to take in even breaths.

"Mommy, Ryou has something he needs to ask you _right now_!"

Ryou stumbled down the last few steps as Kazuhiro released his hand and ran over to his mother's side. At that precise moment, Reiko's side happened to be in the small downstairs powder room hunched over a toilet _vomiting._

It was all so comical he wanted to laugh. There he was, about to propose to his girlfriend – the literal love of his life – with her five year old son cheering him on, and she had a string of vomit going her chin. She turned to look at him, her eyes a little watery from her efforts and wiped away the spittle from her chin.

Her big, shiny brown doe eyes blinked up at him as he stood in the doorway of the tiny bathroom half-awkwardly staring back at her, the tiny black box barely concealed in his large, white hands.

It was one of those now or never, horribly imperfect moments. He dropped to one knee so quickly he gave himself a head rush, his voice was caught in his throat and his Japanese was more broken than it had been in the months since his return. And yet, he managed to get it out.

"Reiko Fujiyama, you are the most important woman in my life, everything to me, the reason I have survived and become the man that I am. You are the only woman that I ever want to be with and this has been a long time coming, Reiko. Rei, baby, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

* * *

That night, after Kazuhiro had been carried upstairs to bed, Ryou and Reiko sat up in bed talking and staring at one another in wonder and amazement. The talking and the staring slowly turned into touching and kissing and that slowly, but surely morphed into languid lovemaking that lasted well into the morning.

Ryou had finally mastered his fears and claimed the life that should have always been his with the love of his life by his side.

* * *

Okay ... Just the epilogue left. Love you! :)


	10. Chapter 10

_Now I can't sing a love song_

_Like the way it's meant to be_

_Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore_

_But baby, that's just me_

_And I will love you, baby – always_

_And I'll be there forever and a day – always_

_I'll be there till the stars don't shine_

_Till the heavens burst and_

_The words don't rhyme_

_And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind_

_And I'll love you – always _

Bon Jovi – Always

* * *

~ Ryou's POV ~ 10 Years in the Future ~

* * *

It was early in the morning and no one else in the house was awake yet. Reiko was cuddled up against my side, her breath coming in gentle puffs against my chest. As I gazed down upon her now, just a few weeks after our wedding anniversary, I couldn't help but recall our wedding day. Ten years ago, I married the woman of my dreams in the most beautiful wedding ceremony we could have asked for. I was so happy to be able to provide her with the type of wedding that she had always deserved.

She had glowed on her walk down the aisle, but not just because of her happiness over our marriage. Just a few days after my proposal, Reiko's flu symptoms had not worsened _or_ dissipated. I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't just sick, but she kept brushing it off. My suspicions were more than confirmed when Rei burst out into tears when she found out that I had eaten the last strawberry yogurt for breakfast.

After she had calmed down, I was able to convince her to take a pregnancy test. When the test came back positive, I could not contain my happiness. Even Kazuhiro was excited about a new member being added to the family. Kaiba did not seem too pleased when she informed him; he had been concerned that Reiko would no longer be able to provide the same level of care for Kazuhiro as she had been previously.

Reiko's parents were another difficult pair to please. Her mother was happy that I was finally stepping up, but when she found out that Rei was pregnant, she started accusing me of proposing just _because _of her daughter's condition. Reiko took all of it in stride and handled herself in the most admirable way ever. Sometimes I still have trouble believing that the girl I left behind became such a strong, powerful woman in my absence.

Our friends and family came together for our wedding and were able to set their differences aside for at least a few hours. My father surprised me by hand-delivering my mother's wedding veil the day before the ceremony. Reiko was more than gracious about the surprise and wore the Bakura family veil as she walked down the aisle. To this day my heart is fit to burst from the pride.

A few weeks later, at a checkup, we had found out that Reiko was having _twins_. The doctor had explained (very slowly, twice, because I almost fainted the first time) that it was very common for a woman her age to have twins.

Beside me, Reiko stirred as an alarm clock went off downstairs. I knew that I should wake her up so that we could get a head start on the day. It was the day we were sending Kazuhiro off to his father's dueling academy. I knew she had been dreading this morning because she had stayed up late the night before helping Kazuhiro pack and shopping for all sorts of accessories that he might need in dorm.

I looked down at her as the mother of my children stirred again, her beautiful eyes fluttering open as she looked at me, a sleepy grin spreading across her face.

* * *

I had nearly finished shaving when Ryoko burst into the bathroom. Luckily (from years of experience), I had learned to shave with as much clothes on as possible. "Daddy, mom says breakfast is ready and she wants you to hurry before your food gets cold."

Ryoko was the older twin. She had Rei's gorgeous big eyes and hair the color of coffee with too much cream in it, thanks to me. I dried my face and pulled my t-shirt on, following the spunky eight year-old down the stairs.

As I took my seat at the head of the table, I heard the laughter of my younger daughter, Rika. Not a moment later I saw her charging down the stairs with Kazuhiro stomping behind her. The two loved to run up and down the stair and otherwise drive me and their mother crazy.

"That's enough, you two." Reiko said as she took her seat beside me.

Breakfast was typical, besides Rei tearing up when Kazuhiro got up to get seconds. As the kids cleared the table, I took my wife aside. "He's going to be okay, love. You know that."

"I just want him to be my baby forever." She whined into my shoulder.

"Eww," the kids chorused behind us. Although, as I turned to look at them I saw Kazuhiro's eyes soften. When I released Reiko, he came over and pulled her into a tight hug.

It was quite silly seeing the two together. He was so much taller than her already and he was only fifteen. Kazuhiro was built long and thin, just like his father. Quite unlike his father, however, he was compassionate and brave. The kid really the best older brother and role model for my daughters that I could have ever asked for.

* * *

"Are you sure you have everything?"

"Yes, mom."

"Yes, but are you _sure_?" Reiko asked him for the tenth time as we all climbed into the car.

"He already said he did, mom." Ryoko, ever the vocal child, chimed in.

I raised my eyebrows at Kazuhiro through the rearview mirror and he grinned at me, I was going to miss having him around. It was nice to have a guy on your side every once in a while, especially in a house full of women.

I turned the key and started the car. As I pulled out of the driveway, Reiko turned around to look at the kids all snug in the backseat. "I guess if you forgot something then we can just send it to you."

"Okay, mom."

"Or maybe I can ask you father to lend me the KC helicopter and I'll come see you!"

"Ryou!" Kazuhiro exclaimed. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

I waited until I came to a stoplight before turning to Reiko. "Honey, you're smothering him."

She shot me the most unloving look I had ever seen, but I could see the sadness in the corners of her mouth. So I added, "Besides, if you leave him alone, he'll be calling you in no time."

"Hey!"

"Will you call us, though?" Rika piped up, her eyes miniature replicas of mine. Although she tried to put up a strong front, Rika was the sensitive one in the family. She had been worrying over her half-brother's departure as much as (if not more than) her mother.

"Of course I'm gonna call, sissy. And you can call me, too. Anytime," he assured her.

When we arrived at the airport it was a lot more crowded than we had anticipated. There were families everywhere with their sons and daughters getting ready to be shipped off to Duel Academy. Of course, as soon as we got there, the girls decided that they had to pee. I dropped them off with Reiko at the entrance and Kaz and I went to find parking.

I decided to take advantage of the moment; I had been meaning to talk to him, anyway. "You know that we're really proud of you, right?"

"Yeah, you and mom have told me a few times."

"Well, it's true." I said as I turned the car off and popped the trunk. "You're a wonderful son and you're growing up to be a great man. A lot better than I was at your age."

He looked up at me then, I think he sensed the importance of the conversation. It was something he had inherited from his mother. I liked to find her in him. It had made it a lot easier to accept him all those years ago. Sometimes in the early years, although I can't say I'm proud of it, I had felt threatened by how much she loved him and how much he looked and acted like his father. Luckily I've learned a thing or two about how people can be _very_ different than the people they are descended from.

I slung the last bag over my shoulder and we started the long walk out of the parking structure. "I don't have a son of my own, but I have always considered you a son. It has been my honor to have even the slightest hand in raising you."

"Hey now, are you gonna cry?" He joked, although I could see the affection in his eyes at my words.

"No, maybe, not just yet," I laughed. "I think that you know how we feel about you, but I want you to know that I truly have been blessed to have you in my life, Kazuhiro. I never wanted to replace your father in your life and I think that, despite the challenges, you got a pretty good childhood out of it. You're a wonderful older brother and I'm so happy the girls have you in their life to look after them."

He turned to me, then, as we were stopped at the crosswalk. "Thanks, Ryou. You know that I've always loved you. I think that everything happens for a reason and I'm happy that my mom has you. She was never happier than when you came back into her life."

I gripped his shoulder in appreciation as we crossed toward the airport building, eyes peeled for the correct terminal.

"Well," I said as we neared the gate, "there is one more thing."

"What's that?"

"I've thought about this long and hard, and I want you to have this." I handed him the foil-wrapped card that I had tucked in my shirt pocket. His eyebrows furrowed and his brown hair fell into his eyes as he carefully unwrapped my gift.

"Change of Heart?" He whispered the question and held the card with reverence.

We had dueled many times over the past few years and I had used the card against him many times. He had always admired it from a young age and I had always meant to give it to him. "Yes, it's yours now. Well, if you'll have it, that is."

"I can't believe it, Ryou, wow!" He dropped his bag and threw his arms around me, in a very out of character display of affection. "I can't believe you're giving this to me, are you sure?"

We had begun walking again because Ryoko was flagging us down with whacky arm gestures. "Of course I'm sure, mate. You're going off to Duel Academy and, call me selfish; I don't want you to forget about little old me." He laughed as I winked at him. I was really going to miss the kid.

"What's that all about?" Rei asked as her pretty eyes narrowed in teasing suspicion.

"Just guy talk, mom, right, Ryou?"

"Right," I chuckled as she pinched my side.

"Your pilot is waiting for you, you know." Reiko said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"First you cry about me leaving and now you can't wait to say bye?" Kazuhiro joked as he embraced his mother. "Besides, dad's paying him quite a bit. He can afford to wait for me."

"I still can't believe he's not here for this." Reiko grumbled. I pulled her under my arm and kissed her forehead as we watched Kazuhiro say goodbye to his sisters. It took all of two seconds for Rika to start crying, and even though Ryoko had sworn up and down she wasn't going to cry, she joined in a moment later.

"Dad is going to be on the island tomorrow, he said that we could have lunch. Besides, I said goodbye to Katsumi and Kamiko yesterday." Kazuhiro explained. He had just started to hoist his bag up onto his shoulder again when an airport employee came rushing up.

"Mister Kazuhiro, no one informed us that you were here!" He paused a moment to wave over a few more attendants. "Here, let us take care of your bags for you. Is there anything else you might need?

I had never seen him look more sheepish in his life as he muttered a quick, "no, thank you." The families that were sharing tearful goodbyes with their teens paused to look over at our little group. I swear more than a few cameras snapped and I noted quite a few girls swooning. Ah, to be young again.

"I guess this is it." He said as his eyes got a little watery.

"Alright guys, bring it in for a group hug." Reiko said. She opened her arms wide, encircling her son with the grip of a boa constrictor.

* * *

It was late and Reiko had just come down from tucking the girls into bed when she got a message from Kazuhiro. "What's he say?" I asked from my seated position on the couch.

"He said that he's all settled into Obelisk Blue and that he's really excited for orientation tomorrow."

"I still can't get over that Obelisk Blue, thing." I snorted as she came around to sit with me on the couch.

"What?" She laughed the word and I swear the room got brighter.

I leaned down to kiss her forehead before answering. "Oh, just that Seto Kaiba's ego never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years."

She rolled her eyes at me and took the remote out of my hand, changing the channel to some stupid reality TV show. These were the moments I lived for. There was nothing in the world like having my wife tucked safely into my side and my daughters upstairs asleep. Kazuhiro was missing, but I knew that he was about to embark on an incredible journey and I only hoped that his would be a lot less harrowing than mine.

I often wondered what it would have been like if Reiko had given me a son instead of the two pretty, smart girls that we had. It scared me. I don't know how I would have been able to explain to my son how to properly treat a woman when I had treated his mother so poorly.

The Bakura family would end with me. There would be no son to carry on the name. It was sad to think about, sometimes. When I catch myself thinking about nonsense like that, I remind myself that things happen for a reason. There has been enough pain in my family and my bloodline. Reiko has brought brightness into my life that I had once questioned if I deserved. Now I know well enough to keep my mouth shut and accept the wonder that is my wife. The years may have aged us, but every time I look at her, I feel seventeen again.

After all the crap that went wrong, it's so nice to know that I finally got it right.

* * *

**End.**

* * *

First and foremost, I want to thank CraftyLion for sticking with me through the ins and outs of this story. She has been my rock – and is now, currently, my editor. :) I encourage you all (especially if you're grammar Nazis/sticklers for punctuation) to go back and reread the series because it's all been spruced up!

Thank you. Thank you to all of my reviewers, all of my followers, all of my favoriters, and thank you to all of my silent readers – I know you exist! Without you, this story would be nothing. Literally. I can't believe that I've made it this far and I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have.

I hope that you all enjoyed the epilogue. I thought long and hard about what _to_ and what _not to_ include. It needed to be in Ryou's point of view because, well, this story is really all about him. I hope that I was able to properly convey the wisdom he has gained through the years.

For those who'd like to know:

Ryoko ("bright or refreshing child")

Rika ("valued fragrance")

Kamiko ("superior child") – she is the daughter of Seto and Katsumi and Kazuhiro's other sister (in case that wasn't clear – which, I kinda feel it wasn't). Let's say she's almost ten.

Thank you all, again. I love you with all my little soul. Really.

Xx,

Red


End file.
